
Class _AiM_i^ 



Book T^^^ 



Copyright ]»]°_ 



V Pl 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



University of Pennsylvania 



THE 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DEDICATION 

OF THE NEW BUILDING OF THE 

DEPARTMENT OF LAW 



February 21st and 22nd 
1900 



Compiled by 

GEORGE ERASMUS NITZSCHE 

At the Request of the Faculty of the Department 

of Law 



PHILADELPHIA 
190 1 



THE I iSRAPV ap 
Two Ovcica i:eceivE«» 

APR. 2t 1902 

J30PVfi(9HT ENTRY 

CLASS fi-'KXa No. 
OOPY c. 



k.^ 






Copyright, 1901, 
By University of Pennsylvania. 



T/te editiott of this book is limited to jjo copies, 



of which this is No. ...ri. 



.7 / 



PRESS OF 

INTERNATIONAL PRINTING CO. 

801 CHESTNUT ST. 



CONTENTS. 

I. Report of Proceedings i 

II. Dedication of New Building of the Law Department ... 3 

(a) Prayer by Bishop Whitaker 3 

(/;) Address of Provost Harrison , . 5 

(c) Address of Mr. Samuel Dickson 8 

(^) Address of Mr. William Draper Lewis 17 

(<?) Address of Mr. James Barr Ames 25 

III. Meeting at Academy of Music 45 

(a) Address of Hon. John M. Harlan 45 

{d) Address of Sir Charles Arthur Roe 72 

IV. Reception at University Club 86 

V. "University Day" Exercises 87 

(a) Conferring of HonoraryDegrees in University Council 88 
(/;) Reading of Credentials of Representatives of Oxford 

and Cambridge 88 

(<r) Reading of Letter of Frederic William Maitland . . 89 

(d) Introductory Address of Provost Harrison 93 

(e) Address of Mr. Wu Ting-Fang 97 

VI. Reception by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania . . . no 

VII. Inspection of University Grounds and Buildings .... no 

VIII. Reception by the Pennsylvania Debating Union no 

IX. Dedicationof Price Hall no 

(«) Introductory Remarks of Provost Harrison .... no 

((^) Address of Mr. Hampton L. Carson in 

(r) Address of Mr. G. B. Finch 121 

X. Dinner Commemorative of the Opening of the New 

Building ^3^ 

(fl) Reproduction of Programme and Menu Card . . 133-146 

iii 



iv Contents. 

' (J?) Introductory Remarks of Mr. Samuel Dickson ... 147 

(c) Installation of Mr. William U. Hensel as Toast- 

master 154 

(d) Toasts :- 

1. " The Memory of Washington " 154 

2. "The Judiciary," Hon. George Gray . . . 155 

3. "The University of Oxford," Sir Charles 

Arthur Roe 162 

4. " The University of Cambridge, " Mr. G. B. 

Finch 164 

5. "The University of Pennsylvania, " Mr. 

George Wharton Pepper 166 

6. Remarks of Dr. Francis L. Patton 171 

7. "The American Lawyer," Mr. John E. 

Parsons 172 

8. "The Philadelphia Lawyer," Mr. Richard C. 

Dale 179 

9. Remarks of Mr. Wu Ting-Fang 183 

XL Appendix :- 

(a) Special Guests of the University 189 

(/;) Committees of Organizations Aiding in the Dedication 

of the New Building of the Law School .... 199 

1. Law Association of Philadelphia 199 

2. Law Academy of Philadelphia 199 

3. Lawyers* Club 199 

4. Pennsylvania Bar Association 199 

5. Historical Society of Pennsylvania 200 

6. University Club 200 

7. Society of the Alumni of the LawDepartment 200 

8. General Alumni Society, U. of P 200 

9. Philadelphia Bar 201 

{c) Memorials and Inscriptions in the New Building . . 205 
{d) History of the Department of Law of the University 

of Pennsylvania — By M. C. Klingelsmith ... . 213 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Law School Building „ Frontispiece 

Reproduction of Invitation to Dedicatory Exercises vii 

Reproduction of Programme of Dedicatory Proceedings ix-xi 

Facsimile of Certificate of Appointment of James Wilson, First 

Professor of Law i 

Quarters of the Department of Law at Sixth and Chestnut Streets, 

1895-1900 5 

McKean Hall (Room in which addresses were made) 25 

Facsimile of Invitation of the University Club 87 

Credentials of the Representative of the University of Oxford, 

England 88 

Credentials of the Representative of the University of Cambridge, 

England 88 

Facsimile of the Letter from Frederic William Maitland, LL. D . 89-92 
Horticultural Hall ; Academy of Music ; Pennsylvania Historical 

Society ; University Club 97 

Facsimile of Invitation of the Historical Society . 1 1 1 

Reproduction of Invitation to Commemorative Dinner at Horticul- 
tural Hall 131 

Reproduction of Programme, Menu Card, etc 132-147 

Diagram of Tables and Seats in Horticultural Hall 184-185 

James Wilson, First Professor of Law 213 

Homes of the Law School 1790- 1900 217 

[a) Academy, 1790- 1802. 

{i>) Presidential Mansion, 1802- 1829. 

(c) Arts Building, 1829-1873. 

(d) College Hall, 1 873-1 888. 

(e) Girard Building, 1888- 1895, 
(/) Congress Hall, 1895- 1900. 

V 



vi Illustrations. 

George Sharswood 222 

Quarters in " Congress Hall " and New Court House, 1895-1900 228 

(a) Chamber of House of Representatives in "Con- 

gress Hall." 

(b) Old District Court Room in "Congress Hall." 

(c) Old Criminal Court Room in ' ' New Court 

House." 

(d) View of Quarters from Independence Square. 

(e) " New Court House." 

(/) Moot Court Room in " New Court House.' ' 

Biddle Law Library (stack room) 232 

Some Interior Views of New Building 238 

(a) Wharton Hall. 

{b) A View of the Staircase. 

{c) Price Hall. 

{d) Students' Conversation Room. 

(e) A Corner of the Main Hallway. 

(/) The Moot Court Room. [/ 

The Dormitories — the " Little Quad " 245 

Houston Hall (interior of main hall) 247 

Franklin Field 249 



■^ 



^ 






IX 



UJSriVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 

OPENING OF THE NEW BUILDING 

OF THE 

Depratment of Law 

THIRTY-FOrrRTH AND CHESTNUT StRBBTS 

February Twenty-first and Twenty-second 

1900 



Guests are requested to mention upon which occasions 

THEY EXPECT TO BE PRESENT. ON FEBRUARY 9TH, 
CARDS OF ADMISSION WILL BE MAILED. 



Wednesday, February Twenty-first. 



1.30. Reception and Luqch in the New Building, by 
tF]e Society of tl-|e Alunnni of the Depart- 
nneqt of Law. 

2 30. Inspection of the Building. 

3.30. Opening Exercises, and Dedicatioq of McKean 
Sharswood, aqd McMurtrie Halls. 
Addresses by 

Provost Harrison. 

Samuel Dickson, Esq., Chairman of the Law 
Committee. 

William Draper Lewis, Ph. D., Dean of the 
Law Faculty. 

James Barr Ame.s, A. M., Dean of the Law 
School of Harvard University. 

8.30. Meeting at the American Academy of Music 
Addresses by 

The Hon. John Marshall Harlan, Senior 
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of 
the United States. 

The Hon. Sir Charles Arthur Roe, LL. D., 
representing the University of Oxford. 

Mr. G. B. Finch, A. M., representing the 
University of Cambridge. 



XI 



Thursday, Februart Twenty-second. 

Washtktgtobt'S BrRTHDAX— Ujstivehsitx Dat. 



.00. At the American Academy of Music. 

Address by 

His Excellency Wu Ting-fang, the Chinese 
Minister. 

Conferring of Honorary Degrees. 



4.30. Dedication of Price Hall, in the New Building, 

Address by 

Hampton L. Carson, LL. D., Professor of 
Law. 






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THE 

PROCEEDINGS 

AT THE 

Dedication of the New Building of the Department 

of Law of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Philadelphia, 

FEBRUARY 2ist AND 22d, 
I9OI. 



First Day* 

On Wednesday, February twenty-first, at half-past 
one o'clock, a reception was tendered the guests of the 
University, in the new Law Building, by the Society of 
the Alumni of the Department of Law. The reception 
was held in Sharswood Hall, the Board of Managers 
of the Society, the Provost of the University, the Com- 
mittee of the Trustees on Law and Legal Relations and 
the Faculty of the Department of Law receiving the 
guests on behalf of the Society, assisted by a reception 
committee composed of the following ladies : 

Mrs. John C. Bell. Mrs. William E. Mikell. 

Mrs. George T. Bispham. Mrs. John W. Patton. 

Mrs. Francis H. Bohlen. Mrs. Samuel W. Pennypacker 

Mrs. Hampton L. Carson. Mrs. George W. Pepper. 

Mrs. Samuel Dickson. Mrs. Eli K. Price. 

Mrs. Joseph S. Harris. Mrs. Frank P. Prichard. 

Mrs. Charles C. Harrison. Mrs. William Sellers. 

Mrs. Harry S. Hopper. Mrs. Edgar F. Smith. 

IMrs. William Draper Lewis. Mrs. William M. Stewart, Jr. 
Mrs. O. W. Whitaker. 



2 Luncheon and Afternoon's Exercises. 

A luncheon was served in McMurtrie Hall, and the 
building was then thrown open for inspection until three 
o'clock. 

At half-past three o'clock the guests and officers of 
the University and the students of the Law Department 
having assembled in the class rooms on the first floor, 
the representatives of Universities, Colleges and Law 
Schools, and the Faculty and students of the Law Depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, being all in aca- 
demic dress, moved in procession to McKean Hall, where 
the afternoon's exercises were held. The order of the 
procession was as follows : — 

Vice-Provost and Trustees of the University. 

Special Guests of the University. 

University and College Presidents. 

Members of the Federal Judiciary. 

Members of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the 
Courts of last resort of other States. 

Members of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. 

Members of the Common Pleas and Orphans' Courts of 
Pennsylvania, and other Courts of Record of other 
States. 

Representatives of Law Schools 

Representatives of Bar Associations and ijiembers of the 
Bar being special guests. 

The Faculty and other members of the teaching force of 
the Department of Law. 

Students of the Department of Law by classes. 

Members of the Reception Committee. 

All other Guests. 



Prayer of Bishop Whitaker. 3 

Charles Custis Harrison, LL. D., Provost of the 
University presiding, introduced the Rt. Rev. Ozi W. 
Whitaker, D.D., LL. D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, who 
opened the exercises with the following prayer : 

O God, the Father of Lights, the source of all knowl- 
edge and power ; the Ruler of the universe, the Judge of 
all the earth ; by whom nations exist and sovereigns rule 
and judges exercise authority ; we adore Thee and 
magnify Thy glorious Name for all the blessings we enjoy. 

We thank Thee for civil and religious liberty, and for 
all the favorable conditions of our lives, and for the com- 
pletion of this work which has brought us together this 
day. Grant, O Lord, that we may show forth our thank- 
fulness for all Thy benefits by making a right use of them 
for Thy glory and for the welfare of mankind. We im 
plore Thy blessings upon all in legislative, executive and 
judicial authority, that they may have grace, wisdom and 
understanding so to discharge their duties as most effect- 
ually to promote the interests of true religion and virtue, 
and the peace, good order and honor of the state and 
nation. We ask Thy blessing upon the University of 
Pennsylvania, and especially now upon that department 
of its instruction and work, for whose use this temple of 
justice has been erected. Wilt Thou enlighten with Thy 
perfect light the minds of all those Thy servants who shall 
be appointed to teach in this School of Law. May they 
have wisdom for the wide range of duties devolving upon 
them ; may they realize that all human laws should be 
but the apphcation of Divine Law to the varying condi- 
tions and relations of men, and may all their teaching be 
in the fear of God, and in the love of righteousness and 
truth. 

And wilt Thou grant, O Lord, that all who shall here 
receive instruction in the principles and methods of their 
chosen profession may be animated by the same spirit. 
By their love of justice and their reverence for law, may 



4 Prayer of Bishop Whitaker. 

their influence be to purify and elevate the morals of the 
people, and may they show forth what they shall have 
learned here by steadfastness of principle and the main- 
tenance of every righteous cause. 

To these high and holy ends, O God, we dedicate 
this building, in Thy name ; beseeching Thee to remem 
ber for good all those by whose generosity it has been 
erected ; all who shall give or receive instruction within 
its walls ; and all who are in any way connected with its 
work ; and wilt Thou grant, O Lord, to these, and to all 
this people, an abiding sense of the great truth that the 
only security for the continuance of the blessings which 
all enjoy, consists in our recognition of Thy sovereign 
and gracious Providence, and in humbly following the 
teachings and example of Thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, 
in whose words we unite in praying unto Thee: Our Father, 
who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom 
come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give 
us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our tres- 
passes, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And 
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For 
Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
forever and ever. Amen. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of 
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all 
evermore. Amen. 



* •♦. 




Address of Provost Harrison. 5 

Provost Harrison delivered the address of wel- 
come, speaking as follows : 

Ladies and Gentlejnen : I need not confess with how 
much pleasure the University greets, this afternoon, its 
guests from far and near. The occasion is certainly one 
which may well touch us all with a flush of modest pride ; 
— for the day marks not only the dedication of a noble 
building to a true subject of University study ; but it also 
marks a new era in the history of the Law School. 
Hitherto, the Department of Law has been without a 
home and fireside of its own, and for the greater part 
of its life it has been separate and apart from the Uni- 
versity — a School of Law, but hardly a University School 
of Law. It has missed the contact with the daily life 
of the University, and the University has missed the 
influence of the School. The mother has had an adult 
child in separate and distant lodgings. Hereafter and 
henceforth, we are all to be together. 

The Trustees desire me at this time to express their 
sincere thanks for the public interest and the private 
munificence which have made their purposes possible 
to the extent we see to-day. During all the time in 
which our plans were forming, the City of Philadelphia 
has given us patient and free use of the court house and 
court rooms not far from that " Old Building " where 
James Wilson delivered his first law lecture before the 
University, 1 10 years ago — and that act of public thought- 
fulness is to-day well retaliated by this result of many 
private gifts. Through these alone and in entire depend- 
ence thereon has this building been erected. It is a 
danger, I believe, in such University undertakings as 
this, to think too much of the present and not enough 
of the future ; but I feel that in this latest work we have 
emptied our quiver of its arrows. The patience and 
care and affection with which our plans and purposes 
have been safe-guarded by the Faculty, the Architects, 
and the Law Committee of the Trustees may have been 



6 ' Address of Provost Harrison. 

equalled at other times and in other places, but not in 
my experience. The interest of all has never failed ; 
but I am sure that no one will withhold approval when 
in this respect I publicly thank the hard worked Dean 
of the Law Faculty and Messrs. Cope and Stewardson, 
the architects. One can scarce realize what it means 
when I say that a full year was given to the continuous 
study of the plans before their final adoption. It is 
hard to know whom not to thank. Builder and work- 
man, master and servant alike, deserve, and to-day 
receive, their proper wage of approval. Like the build- 
ing of that other temple, under an older dispensation of 
law, there has been no voice of strife or contention or 
dispute here. Nor any accident. 

It is quite natural that we should wish, peculiarly, 
to thank, at this time, the givers of the many gifts for 
the erection of the building. It has been my fortune 
personally to know them all. They will prefer not to be 
mentioned by name at this time ; but they will quite 
understand how the University feels towards and thinks 
of them. We thank all ; we are grateful for the memory 
of him — my classmate — who first stirred us to the un- 
dertaking ; and in equal measure to those young lawyers, 
who, in more instances than one, have given a large 
part of a year's fees. In the memorials, too, which have 
been here founded, we have the beginning of an Abbey 
•of Inscriptions, telling of lives of "judicial independence, 
of professional honor, and of public respect," whose influ- 
ence must take its hold upon master and scholar alike. 
Many, both men and women, will know what I mean 
when I extend to them, here and now, my personal thanks. 

I am sure that the Trustees will desire me to say 
that while this building has been presently completed, 
we do not wish to take all the credit and honor of it. It 
means simply that the time had come for us to do this 
work. Other men had been for a century building a 
foundation, and we have erected the building upon that 



Address of Provost Harrison. 7 

foundation, well cemented and prepared. It is our greater 
pride — greater than the realized purpose — that no history 
of the Bar of Philadelphia — or, as Horace Binney defini- 
tively expressed it — " the leaders of the Bar of Philadel- 
phia," can be written without writing in part the history 
of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Chairman, others may speak of the development 
of the law as a science, of the progression of the law, 
depending upon the progress of the lawyer. My part 
and duty shall have been ended, I trust, when I offer for 
your approving acceptance this new building of the De- 
partment of Law of the University. Its purpose and the 
purposes of the University are clear. We seek to offer 
here the largest facilities in science and letters, and the 
highest influences upon the conduct of life, to that class — 
not caste — which may be willing to devote itself to those 
ideals of education which alone become a University. 
Nations are slow to recognize the social value of such 
education, but quick to know that no uneducated nation 
can survive as against an educated one. No whole 
nation can be educated to the ideals of a University, but 
influence flows gently downwards ; and the function of 
the American Universities is to prepare a gradually in- 
creasing number, whose guiding power and influence in 
their respective spheres may gladly be accepted b}^ the 
nation at large. The University Chemist and Physicist 
are recognized in their authority when they apply the 
original work of the Laboratory to the Arts of the people. 
So, with increasing influence, are the Historian, the 
Economist and the Sociologist heard. 

May the students of Law, in this new building, so 
master the principles of their science, and be so imbued 
with high ideals of their calling, that Law and Equity, 
expounded in their practice and illustrated in their lives, 
may more and more decide the cause of the people, and 
in this democracy of ours be the guardians of an ordered 
liberty. 



8 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

Samuel Dickson, Esq., Chairman of the Committee 
of the Board of Trustees on Law and Legal Relations, 
then presented the building on behalf of the Trustees to 
the Faculty of the Department of Law. Mr. Dickson 
spoke as follows : 

" Mr. Provost : The first duty of the representative of 
the Trustees upon this occasion, is to acknowledge that it 
is to your courage and exertions we owe it that this build- 
ing has been erected on this site, for no one else thought 
it possible to obtain a sum sufficient for the necessary 
expenditures ; and it is equally imperative to say to you, 
Mr. Dean, that to the patient and intelligent supervision 
by yourself and colleagues, of every detail of arrange- 
ment, must be ascribed, in large measure, the perfect 
adaptation of the building, in all its parts, to the uses to 
which it is to be devoted. 

Upon its formal dedication to the teaching of the law, 
every lawyer present will naturally recall the first lecture 
delivered in 1790 by James Wilson, one of the Associate 
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
Upon that occasion were present President Washington, 
members of his cabinet and of Congress with Mrs. 
Washington and other ladies. The event was regarded 
as of the first importance, and it has continued to be so 
by reason of the course of lectures delivered during 
that and the following winter, for they constitute a 
distinct contribution to the literature of the law. His full 
course would have occupied three terms, but before its 
completion, he was appointed, in 1791, by the General 
Assembly of Pennsylvania, to revise and digest the laws 
of the Commonwealth, to ascertain and determine how far 
any acts of Parliament extended to it, and to prepare such 
bills as the new condition of things called for. This task 
involved great labor and diverted him from his duties as 
a professor, and he did not live to complete the work which 
would have anticipated the later collection of the British 
statutes by the Judges of the Supreme Court, and of the 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 9 

Commissioners subsequently appointed under the act of 
1830. His lectures were also left in an unfinished condi- 
tion, but those which were completed confirm the estimate 
placed upon his ability by the later writers and notably by 
Mr. Bryce, who speaks of him as one of the deepest 
thinkers and most exact reasoners among the members of 
the convention of 1787, 

In his account of the prominent lawyers at the time 
of the Revolution, William Rawle, who knew him at the 
bar, in the splendor of his talents, and in the fulness of his 
practice, thus spoke of him : ' Wilson soon became con- 
spicuous. The views which he took were luminous and 
comprehensive. His knowledge and information always 
appeared adequate to the highest subject, and justly 
administered to the particular aspect in which it was pre- 
sented. His person and manner were dignified, his voice 
powerful, though not melodious, his cadence judiciously, 
though somewhat artificially, regulated. * * * But 
his manner was rather imposing than persuasive ; his 
habitual effort seemed to be to subdue without conciliating, 
and the impression left was more like that of submission 
to a stern than a humane conqueror. It must, however, 
be confessed, that Mr. Wilson on the bench was not equal 
to Mr. Wilson at the Bar, nor did his law lectures entirely 
meet the expectations that had been formed.' 

Quite recently his name has been made familiar to the 
lay public by the publication of the Memoirs of Colonel 
Hugh Wynne, who knew him both as a tutor and as counsel, 
and who seems to have been an apt pupil and intelligent 
client, as he learned to write very good English, and to 
treat of legal matters in a way satisfactory even to lawyers. 

It does not appear that any successor to Judge Wilson 
was appointed by the Trustees at the time of his retire- 
ment, and in the conditions of professional and social life 
of that day and of long afterward, the system by which 
the student entered the office of a practising lawyer, and 
pursued his studies under his supervision and assisted in 



lo Address of Samuel Dickson. 

the clerical work of the office, was in many cases most 
efficient and satisfactory. Judge Wilson himself had 
read law with John Dickinson, who had been a fellow 
student of Thurlow and Kenyon in the Middle Temple, 
and in turn, at the request of Washington, he received 
the President's nephew Bushrod, afterwards Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court, as his student. Indeed, 
all the great lawyers of the city, who came to the bar 
after the Revolution, qualified themselves by study and 
preparation in the office of a preceptor. It was by this 
method, that the larger part of the Philadelphia lawyers, 
whose names are engaved upon the walls of this build- 
ing, became the leaders of the bar. 

A sufficient explanation of the non-continuance of 
the Law School from the retirement of Judge Wilson, 
was that it was not yet needed, nor would it have attained 
a considerable number of students when reopened in 
1850, had it not been for the fact that George Sharswood, 
then the President Judge of the District Court of the 
City and County of Philadelphia, and afterwards Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was the 
first professor of the reorganized school. Plis relations to 
the members of the Bar of this city were altogether pecu- 
liar to himself, and it may be doubted if any judge ever 
sat upon the bench, who was at once so revered and so 
beloved. It was largely to his personal influence, there- 
fore, that the success of the school then and subsequently 
was due ; but changes of hours and of locality began to 
interfere with office teaching, and those changes have 
been followed by others still more effective, until to-day, 
the removal of the Law School of the University to this 
side of the Schuylkill, may be accepted as the final proof 
of an accomplished change in this city in the method of 
preparation for the practice of the law. 

To recapitulate the successive and accumulating 
changes in social and professional life, which has brought 
this about, is quite unnecessary ; but the fact is, that 



Address of Samuel Dickson, ii 

whereas the Law School has hitherto been, in this city, a 
supplement to office study, it will hereafter become, in 
most cases, a substitute. There has been conflict of 
opinion as to methods of teaching, and as to how far the 
Law School can, in itself, enable the student to make 
himself a lawyer, but no one has ever contended that the 
law was not a science, of which the principles could best 
be mastered by systematic study, under the direction of 
competent teachers. It is studied, however, by the in- 
tending practitioner, not merely nor chiefly for his own 
information, but as what the Germans call a ' bread-study,' 
for the purpose of making practical use of his learning in 
dealing with the complicated facts of life, in advising 
clients in the office, or in trying and arguing cases in 
court. Both aspects of the question, therefore, should be 
kept in mind. 

It has always been, as it now is, a peculiar advantage 
of this school that from the time of Judge Sharswood and 
his colleagues, down to the present day, its Faculty has 
included men whose position on the Bench or at the Bar 
compelled them, day by day, to use and test their know- 
ledge in the court room. It is the inestimable privilege 
of the classes now in this school, that they have the op- 
portunity to hsten to judges of the Federal courts, whose 
appointment was made to satisfy the demand of the prac- 
tising lawyers of the District, and of lawyers who merit 
and possess the unqualified confidence of the profession 
and of the community. What they say commands re- 
spect everywhere else, and it will not fail to do so here. 
Dr. Arnold used to say, ' It is a good thing to admire,' 
and the greatest good fortune which can befall a young 
man is that he should follow his legal studies under such 
men as he will find here, to whom he can look up with 
generous enthusiasm as the ideals to whose measure it 
will be his hope to approach in his future life as one of a 
profession which they ennoble and adorn. 

Whether the new order will accomplish the work of 



12 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

the old, and train up succeeding generations of as high a 
standard as those who have gone before, is the important 
question for all of us. The rank attained by the leaders 
of the Old Bar, as Mr. Binney designated them, is every- 
where recognized, but coming down to a time within the 
memory of many now present, it may be asserted with 
great confidence that the entire United States might have 
been challenged to produce their betters, when Mr. St. 
George Tucker Campbell, Mr. George M. Wharton, Mr. 
Theodore Cuyler and Mr. James E. Gowen were in the 
lead, with Mr. Meredith at their head. To turn out men 
of their stamp will be an achievement indeed, and no 
better fortune for the school can be asked for. For this work, 
Mr. Dean, you and your colleagues have now every help 
which the University can give you. Nothing will be lacking 
to the comfort, the convenience and the wants of the student. 
The Biddle Library, which perpetuates the memory of a 
leader of the Bar, and of three sons, each in his own line 
pre-eminent, is as yet inferior to that of Harvard, of which 
Professor Dicey says that ' it constitutes the most perfect 
collection of the legal records of the English people to be 
found in any part of the English-speaking world ; ' but it is 
already large, and the sum annually applicable to its in- 
crease will soon make it adequate for the needs of the 
most erudite. Having thus free and immediate access to 
every authority he needs to consult, the diligent student 
will assuredly learn the use of books, and master a fair 
share of their contents. 

Of all the influences to surround the student in this 
new home of the Law School, none should be more potent 
to kindle his ardor than the memories of the good and 
great men by which he will be surrounded. This hall, in 
which we are assembled, bears the name of a lawyer, who 
completed his studies in the Middle Temple, and who re- 
turned to take a most prominent and useful part in the 
American Revolution. He was a signer of the Declara- 
tion of Independence ; Vice-President and President of 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 13 

the Continental Congress ; Governor of Delaware ; the 
author of the Constitution of that State ; a member of the 
convention which framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania 
of 1790 ; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State 
for twenty-one years, and its Governor for three terms. 

In the first volume of Dallas' Reports, there is this 
letter from Lord Mansfield : 

*To THE Honourable Thomas M'Kean, Chief Justice 
of Pennsylvania : 

'Kenwood, February 14, 1791. 

' Sir : — I am not able to write with my own hand, 
and therefore must beg leave to use another, to acknowl- 
edge the honour you have done me, by your most oblig- 
ing and elegant letter, and the sending me Dallas' 
Reports. 

' I am not able to read myself, but I have heard them 
read with much pleasure. They do credit to the court, 
the bar and the reporter : they shew readiness in prac- 
tice, liberality in principle, strong reason, and legal learn- 
ing ; the method, too, is clear, and the language plain. 

' I undergo the weight of age, and other bodily in- 
fimities, but blessed be God ! my mind is cheerful, and 
still open to that sensibility which praise from the praise- 
worthy never fails to give — Laus laudari a te. Accept 
the thanks of 

' Sir, yoMx most obliged 

' and obedient humble servant, 

' Mansfield.' 

From this judgment there is no appeal, nor can 
anything with propriety be added. 

When elected governor, he conferred upon the people 
of this State the inestimable benefaction of the appoint- 
ment of that great lawyer, William Tilghman, as Chief 
Justice, and the erection of this structure could not have 
been undertaken but for the noble liberality of a descend- 
ant who bore his name. 



14 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

Of Wilson and Sharswood, whose names appear 
upon the main door, I have already spoken. It remains 
to add that the memory of Eli K. Price, George M. 
Wharton and Richard C. McMurtrie will be perpetuated 
by lecture rooms which bear their names, at the request 
of those whose filial piety or friendship led them to con- 
tribute to the erection of this building, in grateful appre- 
ciation of the professional labors, which gave them promi- 
nence at the Philadelphia Bar. The student will find some 
evidence of their learning and discrimination in the re- 
ports of the many arguments which they made in the 
Supreme Court, and it is enough to say, upon this occa- 
sion, as can be truthfully said of all of them, that by none 
were they so highly esteemed as by their fellow members 
of the Bar who knew them as men and lawyers, as well 
as men can know one another, and better than those 
engaged in any other pursuit can possibly do. 

Mr. Carson will speak of Mr. Price at length to- 
morrow, and it need now only be said that his invaluable 
contributions to the statute law of the State, his active 
interest in the University, in the American Philosophical 
Society, and other associations devoted to literature, sci- 
ence and charity, secured him distinction as a citizen 
almost equal to that which his long, useful and honorable 
career won for him at the Bar. 

It is impossible, however, that any lawyer, who ever 
met Mr. Wharton in consultation, or listened to his argu- 
ments, could mention his name without at least alluding 
to his clearness of statement. By common consent, he 
had the most perfect power of statement of any man of 
his day, and no one could present any proposition which 
he could not re-present in a form more simple and lucid. 

This was, of course, the result of the exquisite cer- 
tainty of his mental vision. It was as if his mind had 
been a perfectly finished lens, which never produced the 
slightest distortion or aberration, and presented every 
object with absolute sharpness of definition. Something 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 15 

he once said as to his habits of reading is worth record- 
ing, as ilkistrating clearly what may be done by system. 
It will be remembered that he was, in his day, the leading 
authority in this Diocese upon Church Law. When re- 
turning a copy of Derby's Homer, he said that he had 
listened to the reading of the entire twenty-four books, 
and he added that it was his rule to read or listen to 
another read some standard work for a half hour every 
evening, and that one who tried it would be astonished 
at how much could be gone through in that way, and as 
a further instance, he added that by giving the time 
every Sunday, between morning and afternoon church, 
to Church Law, he had, in a few years, gone through all 
the authorities upon the subject. 

Of Mr. McMurtrie, of whom some of us are in the 
habit of speaking as the last scientific lawyer at our Bar, 
there should be quoted two or three sentences from the 
eulogy delivered at his Bar meeting by Judge Craig Bid- 
die, as they bring out clearly his distinguishing charact- 
eristic as a lawyer : 

' Mr. McMurtie, if ever a man did, certainly loved his 
profession, and loved it with a sort of romantic attachment. 
Any man who violated the great principles of the law was, 
to him, a man who could not be tolerated for an instant. 
No matter from what source the law came, whether from 
the highest courts in the land or the humblest individual, 
if it was bad law, Mr. McMurtrie looked upon it as a 
forgery, as a counterfeit, as equivalent to an attempt to 
pass money which was not entitled to be current. His 
sturdiness in this particular gave a rather mistaken notion 
of his character, but the only thing that ever stirred him 
to wrath was the one I have just mentioned.' 

' The emulation of examples like theirs makes nations 
great and keeps them so,' and it will be for the men who 
are to come out from this school not only to maintain the 
traditions of the Philadelphia Bar as gentlemen and law- 
yers, and to do their part in helping to advance the 



1 6 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

progress of jurisprudence, and to extend the domain of 
justice and reason, but also to solve the problem always 
recurring and never definitely answered, whether the 
political institutions, which were framed by McKean and 
Wilson and their colleagues, are to be perpetuated as the 
enduring heritage of a free and virtuous people. 

Of all institutions, the University is the most enduring. 
The life of this one has been brief compared to that of the 
historic schools, which have honored us by permitting 
their representatives to be here to-day ; but it was given 
the power by John and Richard Penn to confer degrees, 
and since then, four Constitutional Conventions have been 
assembled to change the organic law of the common- 
wealth. For centuries to come, each year will see a body 
of men come forth from these halls to develop into the 
leaders of thought and action of their time. All that this 
community has done or can do to insure that they will 
use their power wisely is worth the doing, for it is not 
only true, as De Tocqueville said, that the conservative 
force of the American Bar has been the greatest safeguard 
of American institutions in the past, but there is equal truth 
in the aphorism of Lord Bacon — a man, as Coleridge says 
in quoting the remark, ' assuredly sufficiently acquainted 
with the extent of secret and personal influence,' that, ' the 
knowledge of the speculative principles of men in general 
between the ages of twenty and thirty is the one great 
source of political prophecy.' 



Address of William Draper Lewis. 17 

In accepting the building on behalf of the Faculty of 
the Department of Law, William Draper Lewis, Ph.D., 
the Dean of the Faculty, said : 

M7\ Provost : A little over three years ago the 
Faculty of Law expressed to you, and through you to the 
Trustees, their earnest desire that there should be erected 
near the other University Buildings a permanent home 
for the Department. To-day you call upon us to occupy, 
exclusively for the purposes of the Law School, the most 
complete educational building in the country. To say 
that we deeply appreciate this more than generous 
response to our request is to express but feebly the feeling 
which stirs us at this moment. 

When the University determined to erect a building 
for our Department, the Provost asked us to submit to 
him a detailed statement of the requirements of such a 
building. This request was complied with, and though 
these ' requirements ' necessarily involved a much larger 
building than any one had up to that time contemplated, 
we were not asked to modify our plans in the slightest 
detail. The architects, Messrs. Cope and Stewardson, were 
directed to prepare plans which should meet every want 
of the faculty. I need hardly tell you that they have done 
so. Indeed, if our successors find defects in the general 
interior arrangement of this building, in the distribution 
of the reading and lecture rooms, we of the faculty are 
alone responsible, for neither trouble nor money has been 
spared by the University in its efforts to give us all that 
we asked. 

On this occasion, as we are about to occupy this build- 
ing, which has been dedicated by you, Mr. Dickson, to the 
cause of legal education and to the memory of those who 
in their time knew and loved the law, it is perhaps proper 
that I, as representing the faculty, should tell the friends 
of the University and the representatives of legal learning 
gathered here something of our educational ideal. If I 
were asked to state the thought which is uppermost in 



i8 Address of William Draper Lewis. 

the minds of the faculty, shaping not only our acts 
as a body, but our individual work as teachers, I should 
reply : The thought that our chief aim is to enable our 
students to become efficient lawyers. I can therefore 
best give you a mental picture of our educational ideal if 
I show you what we mean by an efficient lawyer. 

Some there are w^ho tell us that we should try to 
make our teaching practical, others that we should con- 
fine ourselves to fundamental principles. The one regards 
the law as an art, and likes the word practical ; the other 
regards the law as a science, and is fond of such expres- 
sions as * grounded in the theory of the law.' It may 
surprise some of you to hear me say that our faculty has 
never discussed the question whether we should regard 
the law from the point of view of an art or of a science. 
We have never discussed this question because we are 
united in the thought that a system of legal education 
which pretended to give the principles of law, disasso- 
ciated from their practical application, would be as useless 
as a system which confined the student to copying legal 
papers. All of us admit that law is a science. But it is 
a living science ; one that is applied every day to the 
affairs of living men ; and a science whose principles 
have been hammered out, not in the closet of the recluse, 
but in the effort to decide real controversies between man 
and man. Its rules have sprung from multitudinous 
instances. They are one of the results of the facts which 
make up our history. As the law has grown, so is it 
being developed. Even as I speak, hundreds of courts 
in this country and in England and her colonies, are con- 
sciously or unconsciously modifying the principles of our 
law by the effort to apply them to new controversies. If 
our economic and social development should cease, and 
we should become a static people, and the new cases in 
our courts were always identical with some other reported 
case, law would cease to be a science. It would become 
merely an art, and would be no more interesting than 



Address of William Draper Lewis. 19 

the science of civil engineering, provided every bridge 
that was built was the duplication of some existing 
bridge. Again, if man should stop disputing with 
his fellow-man, the study of the law would be the study 
of purely historical phenomena. But in our complex, 
developing modern life new legal problems are arising 
every day. The law is not merely the study of phenom- 
ena connected with a bygone people. The law is a 
living science and a present art, and therefore there is no 
such a thing as a practical as distinguished from a theo- 
retical lawyer. There are only two kinds of lawyers, the 
efficient and the inefficient. If you can find a man whose 
only accomplishment is that he can draw a deed, pro- 
vided you do not wish to accomplish something he has 
not seen done before, you may find a man who is useful 
occasionally to do your conveyancing, but you do not 
find an efficient lawyer who can talk to you by the hour 
on the advantages of codification, or on the compara- 
tive excellencies of the civil and tiie common law, or on 
the early courts in Rome ; but cannot take the facts of a 
case between Jones and Smith, and give reasons which 
would appeal to a court why one or the other is right, 
then you may have found a man who is full of enter- 
taining information, but again you have not found an 
efficient lawyer ; you have not found the man which 
it is the desire of our faculty to graduate. 

In our minds, the efficient lawyer is not merely the 
so-called practical man, and on the other hand not merely 
the so-called theoretical one. He is the man who can do 
well the work which the lawyer is called upon to do. He 
is one who can take the jumble of facts which his client 
calls a clear statement of the case, and see quickly and 
accurately the legal point or points on which the case 
will turn, and with this knowledge as a starting point, be 
able to get the facts before the court, and having done so 
prepare his brief and argue intelligently the legal ques- 
tions in his case. We believe that a system of legal 



20 Address of William Draper Lewis. 

education which trains him for part of this duty and not 
the other, is radically deficient. Our aim is to give the 
student a knowledge which will not only enable him to 
argue a legal point, but which will enable him to bring a 
suit and prepare and try a case ; not primarily because 
we believe that a knowledge of what is called practice is 
a necessary addition to a knowledge of the fundamental 
principles of law in order that a man may become a 
practicing member of the Bar, but because we also believe 
that as the law is a science grown up from actual 
cases, and applied and still growing by application to 
actual cases, a knowledge of ancient pleading and 
modern practice is essential in order that the student 
may understand the fundamental principles of the law. 
It may be asked, do all your students expect to prac- 
tice law ? Have you no place for one who wants to write 
on law or teach some branch of the law or legal history ? 
Certainly we have a place for such a man. But we be- 
lieve that his training should not, in the main, be different 
from the training of the man who intends to argue cases 
in court. The work of the lawyer in the preparation of 
his case, of the judge called upon to decide it, or of the 
writer or teacher who must compare it with earlier cases, 
criticise and explain it, is essentially the same. Each 
must examine the same books and face the solution of 
the same problems. To suceeed in their respective 
spheres, the waiter and teacher, no less than the judge or 
practitioner, must realize that he is dealing with an 
applied science. To grasp the exact meaning of a legal 
decision, he must thoroughly understand the mechanical 
forms, that is, the pleadings under which the case was 
presented to the court. He also must be familiar with 
the practical difficulties of proving certain classes of facts. 
In other words, we do not believe that one can intelli- 
gently teach or write on the law which his scholars or 
readers must apply in a real world, without a knowledge 
of the conditions under which the principles he discusses 



Address of William Draper Lewis. 21 

must be applied. And therefore, in saying that our chief 
desire is to graduate " efficient lawyers," we do not slight 
the man who comes to us to prepare himself for research 
work or teaching ; but in trying to make him also an 
efficient lawyer, we take the only course which can make 
him an efficient student of the law. 

While a knowledge of the theory and practice of the 
law forms the extent of the systematic teaching in our 
present undergraduate course, I should leave you with a 
false impression if I were to allow you to go away with 
the idea that we think there are no other elements in the 
make-up of an efficient lawyer besides the training of his 
brain and hand. In law, as in all other departments of 
human endeavor, the efficient man must possess elements 
of character as well as intellectual and mechanical endow- 
ments. He must have in his character certain moral 
elements, and at least two other elements which I think 
we may also include under the designation of moral. 

One of these elements of character we may call method 
or perseverance, according to the form of its manifesta- 
tion. Whether we call it method or perseverance we 
cannot overestimate its importance. If a lawyer is not 
neat he hampers his own progress ; if he cannot system- 
atize his work, great success, except in rare instances, is 
denied to him ; unless he is capable of long continued and 
persistent effort, he may never hope to obtain even a 
moderately respectable position at the Bar. We cannot 
teach here directly and in a separate course, neatness, 
order, perseverance, but by holding this element of char- 
acter before ourselves as essential to the real efficiency of 
our graduates, we can, and I believe do, accomplish 
something in this direction. Not alone with this object, 
but by no means wholly in disregard of it, we make our 
course and our examinations such that all our students 
understand that to obtain a good position in the class, or 
even to get through our course at all, there must be per- 
sistent work every day during the term, and that in each 



2 2 Address of William Draper Lewis. 

week the work must be systematized ; to each day being 
given its allotted portion. Three years of such training, 
while it does not make all of our graduates paragons of 
neatness, method or persistence, undoubtedly has a distinct 
tendency to mold into the character this element, which, 
equally with knowledge and skill, is essential to efficiency. 

There is a second element of character, very different 
from that to which I have just called your attention, but 
none the less essential. This is the element of mental 
independence in legal thinking. Mental timidity must 
not be confounded with the caution which very properly 
keeps a client out of a contest the issue of which is 
doubtful. 

But the lawyer who, for his legal opinions, leans on 
his digest, his text-book, or his friend, wins only the cases 
which no one could help winning. Now independence 
of thought can no more be taught as a separate course 
than neatness or perseverance. Some have it naturally, 
others acquire it only by much persistence on the part of 
the teacher ; others, again, no matter what is done for 
them, never acquire it. But we believe that it is true in 
law, as in other things, that much can be accomplished 
by the teacher if he is distinctly conscious of the import- 
ance of developing in his students the power to think for 
themselves. Therefore, in our teaching here, we encour- 
age the student to work out the problems of the law for 
himself. Where there is a real opportunity for a differ- 
ence of opinion, we are frankly indifferent as to whether 
he agrees with us or not, provided he can maintain his 
own opinion with legal reasons. The old idea that a 
teacher is a modern Gamalial, at whose feet the student 
is to sit and drink in information without question, if it 
ever existed in this Department, has gone, and I trust 
gone forever. Each of us teaches by that method which 
appeals to him as best ; some lecture, some use in part a 
text-book, some the so-called case-method ; but the men- 
tal attitude of each of us towards our classes is, I believe, 



Address of William Draper Lewis. 23 

the same. It is that of the man who invites on the part 
of his students discussion, public or private, of the sub- 
jects in his course ; it is that of the man who is making 
the distinct eflort to give his students the power to think 
for themselves. 

There is one other element in our concept of effi- 
ciency, harder to define, perhaps, but more important 
than all the others. From one point of view, it is the 
moral make-up of the man ; from another it is his mental 
attitude towards the law. All departments of the Uni- 
versity are striving to turn out men who will lead clean 
and honest lives. I believe the whole tendency of our 
life at Pennsylvania, as in other universities, is in this 
direction. Our dormitory system, our athletics, our 
Houston Club, and our various student organizations, 
fill that portion of the daily life of our students not given 
to study with wholesome mental and physical occupa- 
tion, and are important factors in the upbuilding of their 
character. Our work as a Faculty of Law, as we con- 
ceive it, is to take the foundation of good morals, which 
is, in an ever increasing degree, laid for us in the char- 
acter of the great majority of our students by home and 
university influences, and build thereon something which 
will make our graduates, not only moral men, but moral 
lawyers. A man rightly is considered moral when he 
has certain general positive and negative qualities ; if he 
is temperate in his life, honest in his business dealings, 
kind to those dependent on him, and considerate of his 
fellow men. It is our thought that a lawyer should be 
all this and more. Perhaps this "more" can be summed 
up in a single sentence : He should love the law and 
guard her. If he does this, slovenly and inaccurate 
work, careless legal advice will be impossible to him; the 
etiquette of the profession he will guard with jealous 
care ; he will keep his own actions on a high plane, and 
place under the ban of wholesome disdain those who 
sully the high traditions of the Bar. 



24 Address of William Draper Lewis. 

How can a law school teach affection and reverence 
towards the law and the profession thereof? By formal 
courses in legal ethics ? We do not think so. Can 
nothing therefore be done in this direction by a law faculty? 
That is the opposite error. There is a subtle thing which 
all teachers know as the atmosphere of a school. There 
always is an atmosphere. It may be very good, or very 
bad, or neither one nor the other. This mental atmos- 
phere, in part, is left by those who have graduated ; in 
part it is the effect of the mental attitude towards his com- 
ing work, brought by the incoming student, and in a great 
part it is the character of the teachers, the efficiency of the 
school taken as a whole, and the dignity and decorum of 
its surroundings. I need hardly tell you that, following 
the example of our predecessors, we of the present faculty 
have labored and are laboring, with the efficient assistance 
of large numbers of our students, to make this mental and 
moral atmosphere of which I have been speaking such 
that our graduates may not only be skilled in the theory 
and practice of the law, may not only have in a greater 
measure than they had on entering, method in work, per- 
severance in endeavor, and independence in thought, but 
also that they may have a deep love and enthusiasm for 
the law, which will abide with them throughout their lives, 
shielding them from all temptation to do anything which 
would tend to bring her or them as lawyers into disrepute. 

Over the main staircase of this building, so as to be 
seen by one about to leave it, is to be carved the words of 
the great Judge whose unselfish labors created this De- 
partment of the University. They are the words of George 
Sharswood : ' Truth, simplicity and candor, these are the 
cardinal virtues of a lawyer.' Let us hope that each new 
man, as he takes up the work of teaching here, will con- 
sider well the labors for the cause of legal education of 
such men as he who framed this sentence, of such men as 
Morris, as Mitchell, and as Hare. These men not only 
taught the students the law, but impressed them with 



Address of James Barr Ames. 25 

some of the dignity of their own character and their own 
devotion to the profession. We, and those who will take 
up our work when we lay it down, by following the ex- 
ample of their devotion, may perhaps also be able to 
write in the hearts of our students those three all-embrac- 
ing words — ' truth, — simplicity, — candor.' 



The closing address was delivered by James Barr 
Ames, A.M., Dean of the Harvard Law School. Profes- 
sor Ames spoke on " The Vocation of the Law Profes- 
sor," as follows : 

On a broad shaded street in one of the most beau- 
tiful of New England villages, stands an attractive old 
Colonial house, the residence, at the close of the Ameri- 
can Revolution, of a Connecticut lawyer. Hard by the 
house was the owner's law office, a small one-story 
wooden building much resembling the familiar district 
schoolhouse. There was nothing about it to catch the 
eye, but it has a peculiar interest for the lawyer, as the 
birthplace of the American Law School. For it was to 
this building that young men came from all parts of the 
country to listen to the lectures of Judge Reeve, the 
founder of the celebrated Litchfield Law School. 

It is indeed a far cry from the small lecture room of 
Judge Reeve to this noble structure destined to be for 
centuries the spacious and well-appointed home of a great 
university law school. From her humbler home in Cam- 
bridge, I gladly bring the greetings and congratulations 
of the elder to the younger sister, and I am deeply sen- 
sible of the privilege of saying here a few words upon a 
topic that is near to the hearts of both. 

On this red-letter day in the history of law schools, 
we may look back for a moment upon the path of legal 
education, if only to take courage for further achievement, 
as w^e watch the steadily growing conviction, in this 



26 Address of James Barr Ames. 

country at least, that law is a science, and as such can 
best be taught by the law faculty of a university. 

With the revival of interest in the Roman Law, 
students flocked to the mediaeval universities, notably to 
Bologna and Paris ; and in countries where the system 
of law is essentially Roman, the tradition of obtaining 
one's legal education at a university has continued un- 
broken. Indeed, upon the continent of Europe a univer- 
sity law school is the only avenue to the legal profession. 
But the English law was not Romanized, For this, any 
one who thinks of trial by jury, of the beneficence of 
English equity, and of the unrivaled English judiciary, 
may well be thankful. But as a consequence of the non- 
acceptance of Roman Law, early English lawyers were 
not bred at Oxford or Cambridge, For the universities 
were in the hands of the ecclesiastics, who naturally con- 
fined their attention to the canon and civil law. Another 
reason may be found in the well-known dialogue between 
Lord Chancellor Fortescue and the young Prince of 
Wales in praise of the laws of England. The Prince 
having asked why the laws of England were not taught 
at the universities, the Chancellor replied : " In the uni- 
versities of England sciences are not taught but in the 
Latin tongue, and the laws of the land are to be learned 
in the three several tongues, to witte, in the English 
tongue, the French tongue and the Latin tongue." 

English lawyers, therefore, obtained their legal train- 
ing in London, and, in early times, at the Inns of Court, 
which, with the dependent Chancery Inns, were called by 
Fortescue and Coke a legal university. In the days of 
these writers, the term was not inapt. The membership 
of the inns was made up of students, resident graduates, 
called barristers, readers or professors, and benchers, or 
ex-professors, all living together in their dormitories and 
dining-halls, in that spirit of comradeship which has 
added so much to the attractiveness and influence of the 
legal profession. They lived, too, in an atmosphere of 



Address of James Barr Ames. 27 

legal thought. Every day after dinner, and every night 
after supper, there were discussions of legal questions 
after the manner of a moot-court. There were also lec- 
tures by the old barristers, which were followed by dis- 
cussions of the chief points of the lectures. But the 
lectures and discussions came in time to be regarded as 
too great a burden upon the lawyers. They were at first 
shortened, and finally, in the latter half of the seven- 
teenth century, given up altogether. 

A legal education being no longer obtainable in the 
Inns of Court, students of law trusted to private reading, 
supplemented at first by experience in attorneys' offices, 
but after Lord Mansfield's day, in the chambers of special 
pleaders, conveyancers or equity draughtsmen. 

The decay of the Inns of Court seems not to have 
excited, for two hundred and fifty years, any adverse com- 
ment. But towards the middle of this reforming century 
many influential lawyers were impressed with the need of 
a better preparation for admission to the Bar. In 1846 a 
Parliamentary Commission, after hearing the testimony of 
a large number of witnesses, reported that the state of 
legal education in England was " extremely unsatisfactory 
and incomplete," and " strikingly inferior to such educa- 
tion in all the more civilized states of Europe and America," 
and recommended that the Inns of Court should resume 
their ancient function of a legal university. Five annual 
courses of lectures in law were the meagre result of this 
report. 

In 1855 a second Parliamentary Commission, includ- 
ing Vice-Chancellor Wood, Sir Richard Bethell (Lord 
Westbury) and Sir Alexander Cockburn, recommended 
that a university be constituted with a pov/er of conferring 
degrees in law. This recommendation had no effect. 
Some twenty years later, under the leadership of Lord 
Selborne, an attempt was made to bring about the estab- 
lishment of a general school of law in London by the 
action of Parliament. But the attempt was unsuccessful. 



28 Address of James Barr Ames. 

Finally, six years ago, a third Parliamentary Commission 
reported in favor of a Faculty of Law in the proposed 
teaching University of London. And there the matter 
rests, although Lord Russell has recently expressed the 
hope " that the effort may once more be made, and this 
time successfully made, to establish what Westbury and 
Selborne hoped and worked for, a great school of law." 

As a result of the agitation of the last sixty years, six 
readers and four assistant readers give some thirty hours 
of legal instruction per week throughout the year, and 
only those may be called to the Bar who have passed 
successfully certain examinations. These examinations 
represent about one-third of the work covered by those of 
the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, and, 
in the opinion of competent judges, do not afford any 
trustworthy test of adequate knowledge of the law. No 
attendance is required at the readers' lectures or classes, 
and the actual attendance is small. There is no perma- 
nent teaching staff. The teachers are appointed for a term 
of three years. They may or may not be reappointed. 
Incredible as it may appear, at the end of their term, in 
1898, the ten readers and assistant readers were all 
dropped and replaced by a wholly new decemvirate. The 
reason for this clean sweep is almost more surprising than 
the change itself. The Council of Legal Education, as 
one of the members informed Lord Russell, " thought if 
they did not effect frequent changes, and thus permitted 
the idea to grow up that the teachers should be continued 
in office so long as they did their work well, it would be 
interfering with them in the pursuit of their profession, 
and it would be unfair to remove them later." Lord Rus- 
sell, in criticising this novel conception of a professorial 
staff, says truly that " such a policy renders it impossible 
to look to the creation of an experienced professional 
class of teachers." There is obviously a wide gap between 
this school of the Inns of Court and the leading law 
schools in this country with a three years' course, compul- 



Address of James Barr Ames. 29 

sory attendance, searching annual examinations, and a 
faculty of permanent professors. 

One naturally asks, Why did not the universities 
assume the work of legal education which the Inns of 
Court abandoned ? The answer is simple. The traditions 
of centuries were against such an innovation. It is true 
that the Vinerian professorship of the Common Law, to 
which we owe the world renowned Commentaries of Black- 
stone, was established at Oxford in the middle of the last 
centur}^, and this was followed some forty years later by 
the similar Downing professorship at Cambridge. But 
only within the last thirty years has really valuable work 
been accomplished at the universities by a body of com- 
petent and permanent teachers. Even now the depart- 
ment of law at Oxford and Cambridge is not and does 
not claim to be a professional school. A large part of the 
curriculum is devoted to Roman Law, Jurisprudence and 
International Law, and a large majority of those who 
take the law course are undergraduates who propose to 
take their B.A. degree in law. Mr. Raleigh, one time 
Vinerian Reader in English Law, tells us that the best men 
at Oxford seldom begin the study of law until they go to 
London, and he thinks, in common with many others, that 
the ancient universities committed a grave mistake when 
they placed law among the subjects that qualify for the 
degree of B.A. 

I regret to find that Sir Frederick Pollock considers 
this mistake irrevocable. American law professors would 
generally agree that a college student had better let law 
alone until he has completed his undergraduate course. 
Until the law course is made exclusively a post-graduate 
course, and Roman Law, Jurisprudence and International 
Law are made electives in the third year of the curriculum, 
instead of required subjects of the first year, and the staff 
of permanent professors materially enlarged, those of us 
who would like to see a strong professional school of law 



30 Address of James Barr Ames. 

at the English universities, are not Hkely to have our 
dreams reaUzed. 

There must be, of course, some sufficient reason why, 
notwithstanding the recommendations of successive Par- 
hamentary Commissions, and the earnest efforts of men 
Hke Lord Westbury, Lord Selborne and Lord Russell, so 
little progress has been made, either in London or at 
Oxford or Cambridge, towards the establishment of a law 
school comparable to the best schools in other countries. 
A distinguished lawyer of this city suggested, many years 
ago, the quaint explanation that in a country in which the 
law consists of the decisions of the judges, " it might be 
politic not to encourage academic schools of the national 
jurisprudence lest ambitious professors and bold commen- 
tators should obtrude their private opinions, and instil 
doubts into the minds of the youth." The true explana- 
tion, it is believed, is that which was suggested by another 
eminent Philadelphia lawyer. Mr. Samuel Dickson, to 
whom we have had the pleasure of listening to-day, in his 
interesting address at the opening session of this school 
eight years ago, pointed out that no public inconvenience 
was felt from the calling to the Bar of gentlemen who 
were incompetent or unwilling to practice. For the barris- 
ters being engaged, under the English custom, not by the 
clients, but by the attorneys or solicitors, who were them- 
selves experienced in law, the ignorant or incompetent 
barristers had no chance of obtaining any business, and 
dropped out of sight. Furthermore, the concentration of 
the entire body of barristers in London, and the unrivaled 
honors and emoluments that reward the successful lawyer 
so developed competition and so stimulated the ambition 
of the ablest men, as inevitably to produce a Bench and 
Bar of the highest merit and distinction. 

If we turn now to this country, we find a marked 
contrast with the English experience in legal education. 
To the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, belongs 
the distinction of having the earliest law professorship in 



Address of James Barr Ames. 31 

the United States, a distinction due to the fertile genius 
of Jefferson, who, being appointed visitor to the college 
in 1779, wrote to a friend, in a tone of great satisfaction, 
that he had succeeded in abolishing the two professor- 
ships of divinity and substituting two others, one of medi- 
cine and one of law and police. Judge George Wythe, 
commonly known as Chancellor Wythe, was appointed 
professor, doubtless through the influence of Jefferson, 
who had been a pupil in his office. It is an interesting 
fact that John Marshall, as a student of the college, 
attended the first course of lectures given by the first 
American law professor. Three similar professorships 
were established in the last century, at Philadelphia, New 
York, and Lexington, Ky. It seems probable that these 
professorships were created with the hope that they 
would soon expand into university schools of law. Such 
an inference derives support from the high character of 
the first incumbents. Professor Wythe was a distin- 
guished judge of the high Court of Chancery of Virginia, 
Professor Wilson, at Philadelphia, was an Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and 
both were signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
Professor Kent, though a young man when first appointed, 
already ranked as a lawyer of exceptional ability and 
legal learning. To these honored names should be added 
that of Henry Clay, who, although the fact seems to 
have escaped his biographers, was for two years professor 
of law at Transylvania University, being the youngest 
full law professor, as well as the youngest senator, in our 
country's history. But the hopes that may have been 
entertained of developing schools of law out of these 
professorships were in the main doomed to disappoint- 
ment. The private law school at Litchfield had for nearly 
twenty-five years no competitor, and throughout the fifty 
years of its existence was the only school that could claim 
a national character. 



32 Address of James Barr Ames. 

The oldest of the now existing law schools in this 
country is the school at Cambridge, which was organized 
in 1817. But for the first dozen years of its existence, the 
Harvard School was a languishing local institution. 
I cannot better present to you the gloomy outlook for 
this school at that time than by quoting from Provost 
Duponceau. In an address before the Philadelphia Law 
Academy in 182 1, he advocated earnestly the establish- 
ment in Philadelphia of a National School of Law, and 
after alluding to the law lectures at the University of 
Cambridge, added: " If that justly celebrated University 
were situated elsewhere than in one of the remote parts 
of our union, there would be no need, perhaps, of looking 
to this city for the completion of the object which we 
have in view. Their own sagacity would suggest to them 
the necessity of appointing additional professors, and 
thus under their hands would gradually rise a noble 
temple dedicated to the study of our national jurisprudence. 
But their local situation precludes every such hope." Nor 
were the law schools of the University of Maryland, Yale 
and the University of Virginia, which w^ere established 
between 1824 and 1826, in any sense rivals of the Litch- 
field School. At the termination of that famous private 
school in 1833, there were only about 150 students at 
seven university law schools. In the dozen years follow- 
ing, new schools w^ere organized, and the school at Cam- 
bridge under the leadership of Story, in spite of its 
unfortunate situation, became a national institution. In 
1850, when the Law School of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania was established by the auspicious election of Judge 
Sharswood as Professor of Law, our schools numbered 
fourteen, and in i860 the number had risen to twenty-three, 
with a total attendance of about 1000 students, all but 
one of these schools forming a department of some 
university. In the thirty-five years since the Civil War 
more than eighty new schools have been organized, so 
that we have to-day 105 law schools, with an attendance 



Address of James Barr Ames. 33 

of about 13,000 students. Twenty-five years ago in none 
of the schools did the course exceed two years. To-day, 
fifty of the schools have a three years' course. Nearly 
ninety of these schools are departments of a university. 
Valuable as the lawyer's office is and must always 
be for learning the art of practice, these figures show 
how completely it has been superseded by the law school 
as a place for acquiring familiarity with the principles of 
law. 

It is an interesting illustration of the law of evolution 
that we Americans, starting from radically different tra- 
ditions of legal education, by a wholly independent 
process, without any imitation of continental ideas, have 
adopted in substance the continental practice of university 
legal training. 

What is the significance for the future of this remark- 
able growth of law schools? It means, first of all, the 
opening of a new career in the legal profession, the career 
of the law professor. This is a very ancient career in 
countries in which the Civil Law prevails. In Germany, 
for instance, a young man upon completing his law 
studies at the university, determines whether he will be 
a practicing lawyer, a judge or professor, and shapes his 
subsequent course accordingly. The law faculties are, 
therefore, rarely recruited from either practicing lawyers 
or judges. This custom will never, I trust, prevail in 
this country. Several of my colleagues at Cambridge 
think that a law faculty made up in about equal propor- 
tions of men appointed soon after receiving their law 
degree, and of men appointed after an experience of from 
ten to twenty years in practice or upon the Bench would 
give the best obtainable results. I should be willing to 
take the chances of a somewhat larger proportion of the 
younger men, if I believe them to have the making of 
eminent counselors or strong judges ; and, surely, men 
lacking these qualifications ought never to be thought of 
as permanent teachers in a first-class law school. The 



34 Address of James Barr Ames. 

experience of the new law school at Leland Stanford 
University may fairly be expected to throw light on this 
problem. Next year, four of the five law professors in that 
school will be men who received their appointment within 
two years after taking their degree in law. They all 
graduated with distinction, and might look forward with 
confidence to a successful career at the Bar or on the 
Bench. I venture the prediction that this California 
school will ere long be in the front rank of American 
law schools. One of their faculty told me that their 
ambition was to make the Stanford Law School better 
than the best Eastern law schools, and added, with com- 
mendable enthusiasm, that he believed they would 
succeed within twenty-five years. May God speed them 
to their goal ! 

But whatever question there may be as to the just 
proportion in a law faculty of professors from the forum 
and from the university, there ought to be no doubt that 
the faculty should be made up almost wholly of men who 
devote the whole of their time to the university. The 
work of a law professor is strenuous enough to tax the 
energies of the most vigorous and demands an undivided 
allegiance. 

At the present time about one-fourth of the law pro- 
fesssors of this country give themselves wholly to the 
duties of their professorships, while three-fourths of them 
are active in practice or upon the Bench. These propor- 
tions ought to be, and are likely to be, reversed in the 
next generation. At the law schools of Harvard, Colum- 
bia, University of Virginia, Washington and Lee, Cornell, 
Stanford and as many more, nearly all the professors give 
themselves exclusively to the academic life. The Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, I am confident, will not be long 
in joining this group. There are, of course, occasional 
instances of men of exceptional ability, facility and capa- 
city for work, and of ,such abundant loyalty — I need not 
go beyond the walls of this building for illustrations — 



Address of James Barr Ames. 35 

from whom it is better to accept the half loaf that the^ 
are ready to give, than the whole loaf of the next best 
obtainable persons. There is always the hope, too, that 
such men may, sooner or later, cast in their lot for good 
and all with the university. But it is a sound general 
rule that a law professorship should be regarded as a 
vocation and not as an avocation. 

Of this vocation the paramount duty is, of course, 
that of teaching. Having mastered his subject, the pro- 
fessor must consider how best he can help the students to 
master it also. Different methods have prevailed at dif- 
ferent times and places. At the Litchfield School, Judge 
Reeve and Judge Gould divided the law into forty-eight 
titles and prepared written lectures on these titles which 
they delivered, or rather dictated to the students, who 
took as accurate notes as possible, which they afterwards 
filled out and copied for preservation, A set of these 
notes, filling three quarto volumes of about five hundred 
pages each, was presented to the Harvard Law Library. 
The donor in his letter accompanying the gift wrote that 
these notes were so highly prized when he was a student 
at Litchfield that ^100 and upwards were frequently paid 
for a set. At a time when there were very few legal 
treatises, this plan of supplying the students with manu- 
script text-books served a useful purpose. But with the 
multiplication of printed treatises, instruction by the writ- 
ten lecture, which Judge Story, as far back as 1843, char- 
acterized as inadequate, has been rightly superseded. 
The recitation or text-book method was for many years 
the prevailing method, and is still much used. A certain 
number of pages in a given text-book are assigned to the 
students, which they are expected to read before coming 
to the lecture room. The professor catechises them upon 
these pages, and comments upon them, criticising, ampH- 
fying and illustrating the text according to his judgment. 
In the hands of a master of exposition, who has also the 
gift of provoking discussion by putting hypothetical cases. 



36 Address of James Barr Ames. 

this method will accomplish valuable results. But the 
fundamental criticism to be made upon the recitation 
method of instruction, as generally handled, is that it is 
not a virile system. It treats the student not as a man, 
but as a schoolboy reciting his lesson. Any young man 
who is old enough and clever enough to study law at all, 
is old enough to study it in the same spirit and the same 
manner in which a lawyer or judge seeks to arrive at the 
legal principle involved in an actual litigation. The notion 
that there is one law for the student and another law for 
the mature lawyer is pure fallacy. When thirty years ago 
Professor Langdell introduced the inductive method of 
studying law, it was my good fortune to be in his first 
class at the Harvard Law School, so that we had an op- 
portunity to compare his method with the recitation sys- 
tem. We were plunged into his collection of cases on 
Contracts, and were made to feel from the outset that we 
were his fellow students, all seeking to work out by dis- 
cussion the true principle at the bottom of the cases. We 
very soon came to have definite convictions, which we 
were prepared to maintain stoutly on legal grounds, and 
we were possessed with a spirit of enthusiasm for our 
work in Contracts, which was sadly lacking in the other 
courses conducted on the recitation plan. 

There are some very suggestive sentences in Lord 
Chief Baron Kelly's testimony before the Parliamentary 
Commission of 1855. He was giving his reasons, derived 
from his own experience, for setting a much higher value 
upon the experience in the chamber of a barrister or 
special pleader than upon courses of lectures. " Per- 
haps," he says, " there was too much copying. But there 
was also this — there were constant debatings, there were 
constant investigations of every case that came into the 
barrister's or pleader's chambers for his opinion and look- 
ing up of cases ; and then the students, each giving his 
own opinion upon the case, and saying why he formed 
that opinion, by referring to authorities ; and then the 



Address of James Barr Ames. 37 

barrister saying, my opinion is so and so, upon such and 
such grounds, correcting the errors of the one student, 
and approving of the course resorted to by the other. 
That was the way in which I learned the law, together 
with reading ; and if I am to compel anybody to go 
through any course at all, it would be just that course." 
The Lord Chief Baron was exceptionally fortunate in his 
student experience. He was in truth at a private law 
school conducted on the sound principle of developing 
the student's powers of legal reasoning by continual dis- 
cussion of the principles involved in actual cases. With 
the extinction of the special pleader there are few such 
schools left, even in London, and none at all in this 
country. One of my colleagues has said that if a law- 
yer's office were conducted purely in the interest of the 
student, and if, by some magician's power, the lawyer 
could command an unfailing supply of clients with all 
sorts of cases, and could so order the coming of these 
clients as one would arrange the topics of a scientific law- 
book, we should have the law-student's paradise. This 
fanciful suggestion was made with a view of showing 
how close an approximation to this dream of perfection 
we may actually make. If we cannot summon at will 
the living cHents, we can put at the service of the stu- 
dents, and in a place created and carried on especially 
for their benefit, the adjudicated cases of the multitude of 
clients who have had their day in court We have only 
to turn to the reported instances of past litigation, and 
we may so arrange these cases by subjects and in the 
order of time as to enable us to trace the genesis and the 
development of legal doctrines. If it be the professor's 
object that his students shall be able to discriminate be- 
tween the relevant and the irrelevant facts of a case, to 
draw just distinctions between things apparently similar, 
and to discover true analogies between things apparently 
dissimilar, in a word, that they shall be sound legal 
thinkers, competent to grapple with new problems be- 



38 Address of James Barr Ames. 

cause of their experience in mastering old ones, I know 
of no better course for him to pursue than to travel with 
his class through a wisely chosen collection of cases. 
These " constant debatings " in the class have a further 
advantage. They make easy and natural the growth of 
the custom of private talks and discussions between pro- 
fessor and students outside of the lecture rooms. Any 
one who has watched the working of this custom knows 
how much it increases the usefulness of the professor and 
the effectiveness of the school. 

But the field of the law-professor's activity is not 
limited to his relations with the students, either in or out 
of the classroom. His position gives him an exceptional 
opportunity to exert a wholesome influence upon the 
development of the law by his writings. If we turn to 
the countries in which the vocation of the law-professor 
has long been recognized, to Germany, for instance, we 
find a large body of legal literature, of a high quality, the 
best and the greater part of which is the work of profes- 
sors. The names of Savigny, Windscheid, Ihering and 
Brunner at once suggest themselves. These and many 
others are the lights of the legal profession in Germany. 
The influence of their opinions in the courts is as great or 
even greater than that of judicial precedents. Indeed, 
to our way of thinking, too much regard is paid to the 
opinion of writers and too little to judicial precedents, with 
the unfortunate result that the distinction of the conti- 
nental judges is far less than that of the English judiciary. 
The members of the court do not deliver their opinions 
seiHatim^ nor does one judge deliver his written opinion as 
that of the court. The opinions are all what we call per 
curiam, opinions. Furthermore, one may search the 
reports from cover to cover, and not be able to find the 
number or the names of the judges who constitute the 
highest court in the German Empire. 

But, while the Germans might well ponder upon the 
splendid record and position of the judges in England and 



Address of James Barr Ames. 39 

in the best courts in this country, we, on the other hand, 
have much to learn from them in the matter of legal litera- 
ture. Some of our law books would rank with the best 
in any country, but as a class our treatises are distinctly 
poor. The explanation for this is to be found, I think, in 
the absence of a large professorial class. We now at last 
have such a class, and the opportunity for great achieve- 
ments in legal authorship is most propitious. Doubtless 
no single book will ever win the success of the Com- 
mentaries of Blackstone or Kent. And no single profes- 
sor will ever repeat the marvelous fecundity of Story, who, 
in the sixteen years of his professorship, being also all 
those years on the bench of the Supreme Court, wrote ten 
treatises of fourteen volumes, and thirteen revisions of 
these treatises. We live in the era of specialization, and 
the time has now come for the intensive cultivation of the 
field of law. The enormous increase in the variety and 
complexity of human relations, the multiplication of law 
reports, and the modern spirit of historical research, 
demand for the making of a first-class book on a single 
branch of the law an amount of time and thought that a 
judge or lawyer in active practice can almost never give. 
The professor, on the other hand, while dealing with his 
subject in the lecture room, is working in the direct line 
of his intended book, and if he teaches by the method of 
discussion of reported cases, he has the best possible safe- 
guard against unsound generalizations ; for no ill-con- 
sidered theory, no doctrinaire tendency can successfully 
run the gauntlet of keen questions from a body of alert 
and able young men encouraged and eager to get at the 
root of the matter. He has also in his successive classes 
the gratuitous services of a large number of unwitting 
collaborators. For every one who has ever written on a 
subject, which has been threshed out by such classroom 
discussion, will cordially agree with these words of the 
late Master of Balliol : " Such students are the wings of 
their teacher ; they seem to know more than they ever 



40 Address of James Barr Ames, 

learn ; they clothe the bare and fragmentary thought in 
the brightness of their own mind. Their questions suggest 
new thoughts to him, and he appears to derive from them 
as much or more than he imparts to them." 

Under these favoring conditions the next twenty-five 
years ought to give us a high order of treatises on all the 
important branches of the law, exhibiting the historical 
development of the subject and containing sound con- 
clusions based upon scientific analysis. We may then 
expect an adequate history of our law supplementing the 
admirable beginning made by the monumental work of 
Pollock and Maitland. 

But the chief value of this new order of legal litera- 
ture will be found in its power to correct what I conceive 
to be the principal defect in the generally admirable work 
of the judges. It is the function of the law to work out 
in terms of legal principle the rules, which will give the 
utmost possible effect to the legitimate needs and pur- 
poses of men in their various activities. Too often the 
just expectations of men are thwarted by the action of the 
courts, a result largely due to taking a partial view of the 
subject, or to a failure to grasp the original development 
and true significance of the rule which is made the basis 
of the decision. Lord Holt's unfortunate controversy 
with the merchants of Lombard street is a conspicuous 
instance of this sort of judicial error. When, again, the 
Exchequer Chamber denied the quality of negotiability to 
a note made payable to the treasurer for the time being 
of an unincorporated company, they defeated an admir- 
able mercantile contrivance for avoiding the inconvenience 
of notes payable to an unchartered company or to a par- 
ticular person as trustee. Both mistakes were due to 
a misconception of the true principle of negotiability and 
both were remedied by legislation. It would be difficult 
to find an established rule of law more repugnant to the 
views of business men or more vigorously condemned by 
the courts that apply it, than the rule that a creditor who 



Address of James Barr Ames. 41 

accepts part of his debt in satisfaction of the whole, may 
safely disregard his agreement and collect the rest of the 
debt from his debtor. This unfortunate rule is the result 
of misunderstanding a dictum of Coke. In truth, Coke, 
in an overlooked case, declared in unmistakable terms 
the legal validity of the creditor's agreement. In sug- 
gesting these illustrations of occasional conflict between 
judicial decisions and the legitimate interests of merchants 
I would not be understood as reflecting upon the work of 
the judges. Far from it. The marvel is that in dealing 
with the many and varied problems that come before 
them, very often without any adequate help from the 
books, so few mistakes are made. From the nature of 
the case the judge cannot be expected to engage in 
original historical investigations, nor can he approach the 
case before him from the point of view of one who has 
made a minute and comprehensive examination of the 
branch of the law of which the question to be decided 
forms a part. The judge is not and ought not to be a 
specialist. But it is his right, of which he has too long 
been deprived, to have the benefit of the conclusions of 
specialists or professors, whose writings represent years 
of study and reflection, and are illuminated by the light 
of history, analysis and the comparison of the laws of 
different countries. The judge may or may not accept 
the conclusions of the professor, as he may accept or 
reject the arguments of counsel. But that the treatises of 
the professors will be of a quality to render invaluable 
service to the judge and that they are destined to exercise 
a great influence in the further development of our law, 
must be clear to every thoughtful lawyer. 

It is the part of a professor, as well as of a judge, to 
enlarge his jurisdiction. Mention should, therefore, be 
made of the wholesome influence which the professor may 
exert as an expert counselor in legislation, either by stay- 
ing or guiding the hand of the legislator. 

The necessity of some legislation to supplement the 



42 Address of James Barr Ames. 

work of the judges, and the wisdom of many statutory- 
changes will be admitted by all. But the power of legis- 
lation is a dangerous weapon. Every lawyer can recall 
many instances of unintelligent, mischievous tampering 
with established rules of law. One of the worst of such 
instances is the provision in the New York Revised 
Statutes of 1828, which changed radically the rule against 
perpetuities, and which called forth Professor Gray's criti- 
cism " that in no civilized country is the making of a will so 
delicate an operation and so likely to fail of success as in 
New York." Equally severe criticism may be fairly made 
upon the revolutionary legislation in the same State, in 
1830, in regard to the law of trust. This new legislation 
has produced several thousand reported cases and has 
given to New York a system of trusts of so provincial a 
character, that in the opinion of Mr. Chaplin, the author 
of a valuable work on trusts, the ordinary treatises on that 
subject are deprived of much of their value for local use. 
A part of this provincial system worked so disastrously, 
and caused, as Chief Justice Parker has said in a recent 
opinion, so many " wrecks of original charities — charities 
that were dear to the hearts of their would be founders, and 
the execution of which would have been of inestimable 
value to the public," that it was at last abolished and the 
English system of charitable trusts restored. No one will 
be so rash as to regard the law professor as a panacea 
against the evils of unwise legislation. But I know of no 
better safeguard against such evils than the existence of a 
permanent body of teachers devoting themselves year 
after year to the mastery of their respective subjects. 
Then again the spirit of codification is abroad. It is 
devoutly to be wished that this spirit may be held in check, 
until we have a body of legal literature resting upon sound 
generalizations. If, however, codification must come 
prematurely, it is the part of wisdom to bring to the work 
the best expert knowledge in the country. The commis- 
sion to draft the code should be composed of competent 



Address of James Barr Ames. 43 

judges, lawyers and professors, and, in the case of com- 
mercial subjects, business men of wide experience. The 
draft of the proposed code should be published in a form 
easily accessible to any one, and the freest criticism 
through legal periodicals or otherwise should be invited 
during several years. In the light of this criticism the 
draft should then be amended and revised. In Germany, 
where by far the best of modern codification is to be found, 
these cardinal principles are followed as a matter of course. 
They were almost completely ignored, and with very 
unfortunate results, in the preparation of the Negotiable 
Instruments Act, adopted by several of our States. We 
should surely mend our ways in future codifications. In 
Germany much of the best work in the drafting of the 
code and of the criticism of the draft is done by the pro- 
fessors. There is no reason why under similar methods 
the same might not be true in this country. 

This, then, is the threefold vocation of the law pro- 
fessor — teacher, writer, expert counselor in legislation. 
Surely, a career offering a wide scope for the most stren- 
uous mental activity, a stimulus to the highest intellec- 
tual ambition, and gratifying in abundant measure the 
desire to render high service to one's fellow-men. If the 
professor renounces the joy of the arena, and the intel- 
lectual and moral glow of triumphant vindication of the 
right in the actual drama of life, he has the zest of the 
hunter in the pursuit of legal doctrines to their source, he 
has that delight, the highest of purely intellectual de- 
lights, which comes when, after many vigils, some orig- 
inal generalization, illuminating and simplifying the law, 
first flashes through his brain, and, better than all, he 
has the constant inspiration of the belief that through the 
students that go forth from his teaching and by his writ- 
ings, he may leave his impress for good upon that system 
of law which, as Lord Russell has well said, " is, take it 
for all in all, the noblest system of law the world has ever 
seen." 



44 Address of James Barr Ames. 

To those of us who beheve that upon the maintenance 
and wise administration of this system of law rests more 
than upon any other support the stability of our govern- 
ment, it is a happy omen that so many centres of legal 
learning are developing at the universities all over our 
land. May the lawyers and the university authorities see 
to it that these law faculties are filled with picked men. 
Until the rural legislator has enlightened views of the 
value of intellectual service, we cannot hope to have on 
the bench so many of the ablest lawyers as ought to be 
there. But the universities, many of them at least, are not 
hampered by this difficulty. They have it in their power 
to add to the inherent attractiveness of the professor's 
chair such emoluments as will draw to the law faculty the 
best legal talent of the country. I have the faith to believe 
that at no distant day there will be at each of the leading 
university law schools, a body of law professors of distin- 
guished ability, of national and international influence. 
That the Law School of this University will have its place 
among the leaders is assured, beyond peradventure, by 
the dedication of this building. The lawyers of future 
generations, as they walk through these spacious halls, 
and see this rich library, and the reading-rooms thronged 
with young men working in the spirit of enthusiastic com- 
radeship, will say : " Truly it was a noble nursery of jus- 
tice and liberty that the lawyers and citizens of Philadel- 
phia erected in 1900 " — but as they call to mind the 
distinguished lawyers and judges among the alumni, and 
as they read over the names of the jurist-consults on the 
professorial stafT, men teaching in the grand manner, and 
adding lustre by their writings to the University and to 
the legal profession they shall add. " But those men of 
Philadelphia builded even better than they knew." 

On the conclusion of these exercises the special guests 
of the University were entertained at private dinners 
given by members of the University Club, members of 
the Board of Trustees, and of the Faculties of the Uni- 



Address of Justice Harlan. 45 

versity of Pennsylvania, and members of the Philadelphia 
Bar. In the evening the exercises were continued at the 
American Academy of Music. The program as first 
arranged consisted of addresses by the Honorable John 
Marshall Harlan, Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, the Honorable Sir Charles 
Arthur Roe, representing the University of Oxford, Eng- 
land, and Mr. Gerald Brown Finch, M. A., representing 
the University of Cambridge, England. 

At half-past eight o'clock the procession moved from the 
green room to the stage, where the special guests of the 
University and Reception Committee were already seated, 
in the following order : Justice Harlan, with the Provost 
of the University ; Sir Charles Arthur Roe, with the Chair- 
man of the Committee of the Trustees on Law and Legal 
Relations ; Mr. Finch, with the Dean of Faculty of the 
Department of Law, the members of the Committee of 
the Trustees on Law and Legal Relations, and the Faculty 
of the Department of Law. After music by the students' 
band of the University, Provost Harrison introduced 
Justice Harlan, who spoke as follows : 

I congratulate the people of this great Common- 
wealth, especially the Provost, Trustees, Professors and 
Students of this famous University, on the auspicious 
character of this occasion. We are assembled to mani- 
fest our interest in the dedication of a new and magnifi- 
cent building for the use of those who in this University 
impart and receive instruction in the science of law. All 
who have contributed in aid of its construction are en- 
titled to the thanks of the lovers of liberty. When I 
speak of liberty, I mean such liberty as is enjoyed in this 
country. This fair land is in a peculiar sense the home 
of freedom — the freedom that takes account of man as 
man, that tolerates no government that does not rest upon 
the consent of the governed, and recognizes the right of 
all persons within its jurisdiction, of whatever race, to the 
equal protection of the laws in every matter affecting life, 



46 Address of Justice Harlan. 

liberty or property. In the vindication of those prin- 
ciples the American people will always need, as they have 
always had, the earnest, energetic support of the legal 
profession. Indeed, it is not too much to say that those 
who give their lives to the study, practice and administra- 
tion of the law constitute the active corps of the great 
army of freedom. If they fall away from the line of duty 
and as a body become false to the essential guarantees of 
life, liberty and property — if from want of courage or 
principle they retire before the advancing hosts of com- 
munism and anarchy — we may expect our freedom to be 
displaced by despotism and lawlessness. Only the 
ignorant or narrow-minded inveigh against lawyers as a 
class ; for candid students of history admit that in every 
crisis in which freedom has been put in peril by bad men 
or bad governments. Judges and Lawyers have stood 
forth as the fearless champions of right, the enemies of 
wrong and oppression. This has never been more dis- 
tinctly illustrated than in the lives of the Judges and 
Lawyers of this imperial Commonwealth. Pennsylvania 
may well take pride in the fact that no State of the Union 
has given to the world a larger number of eminent Judges 
and Lawyers. Among those who have adorned the 
Bench are Wilson, Baldwin, Grier, Strong, McKean, 
William Tilgham, Gibson, Sharswood, Black, Thompson 
and Cadwalader. Among those of extraordinary ability 
and learning as lawyers I may mention Ingersoll, Edward 
Tilgham, Rawle, Binney, Sergeant, Meredith, Campbell 
and Biddle. The memory of those distinguished men is 
warmly cherished by the legal profession. You of that 
profession in Pennsylvania can hold up their names and 
without boasting say to your brethren of other States: 
Match them if you can — surpass them you cannot. 

When I accepted the invitation to deliver an address 
on this occasion my first thought was to trace the history 
of the University of Pennsylvania and say something of 
the men whom it had trained and sent out into the vari 



Address of Justice Harlan. 47 

ous walks of life. But that thought was abandoned be- 
cause it was found that those who were graduated from 
the University and who had shed honor upon its instruc- 
tors were too numerous to be mentioned upon any one 
occasion. 

It finally occurred to me as appropriate to this meet- 
ing to speak of the public career of James Wilson, and 
particularly of the principles of constitutional law for 
which he stood when the present Union was established. 
I am moved to this by the fact that he was the first Pro- 
fessor in a College of Law which was established in this 
city in the last century, and was subsequently merged into 
the University of Pennsylvania. It is an interesting fact 
that President Washington and his cabinet and the lead- 
ing members of the Congress of the Confederation at- 
tended the opening lecture of Professor Wilson. Those 
lectures have been preserved, and are familiar to every 
student of constitutional law. But he was not distinguished 
alone as a pioneer in American Jurisprudence. He was a 
member of the Second Congress that assembled in this 
city in May, 1775, continuing in that branch of the public 
service for some years ; a Signer of the Declaration of In- 
dependence ; a prominent member of the Convention that 
framed the present Constitution of the United States, and, 
by appointment of Washington, an Associate Justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States. When the 
University of Pennsylvania is mentioned, we of the legal 
profession at once think of its most eminent Professor of 
Law. And as the University is about to enter upon a 
wider career of usefulness it is well to recall some of the 
services rendered by that remarkable man, and refer to 
the principles by which his public career was guided. In 
doing so I must omit any reference to his earlier life, ex- 
cept to say that in 1774, when only thirty-two years of 
age, in a pamphlet relating to the legislative authority of 
the British Parliament and which attracted great attention, 
Wilson disclosed the broad ground upon which his political 



48 Address of Justice Harlan. 

faith rested, by declaring that all men — not some men^ 
not men of any particular race or color, but '■^all men 
are by nature equal and free " — the same great principle 
subsequently embodied in the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. 

I come at once to the period when the momentous 
question as to the formation of a new government in place 
of that established by the Articles of Confederation was 
agitated. Every statesman of that day — no one more 
fully than Wilson — recognized the inherent weakness of 
the organization then existing and the absolute necessity 
for another form of government. The Articles of Con- 
federation, although contemplating perpetual union, were 
addressed to the States by name. They declared that 
each State retained its sovereignty, freedom and inde- 
pendence, and every power, jurisdiction and right that 
was not by those Articles expressly delegated to the United 
States in Congress assembled. This restriction closed the 
doors against the exercise of implied powers, however 
necessary they might be to the effective exercise of the 
powers expressly granted. The Articles established a 
mere league between sovereign States. All expenses 
incurred for the common defense or the general welfare 
were to be defrayed out of funds to be supplied only by 
taxes levied by the States. In this last provision lay the 
inherent vice of the Articles of Confederation. While to 
the government created by them was committed the duty 
of maintaining the unity of the country in time of war, it 
had no power, in and of itself, to raise the money neces- 
sary to accomplish that end. It could not lay and collect 
taxes. It leaned entirely upon the State governments, 
and in no legal sense upon the people of the States. If for 
any cause one State refused to furnish its part of the money 
necessary to defray the general expenses. Congress was 
without power to compel it to do so. This defect was 
sorely felt during the Revolutionary War ; and when the 
common enemy recognized the independence of America, 



Address of Justice Harlan. 49 

there arose on all sides a cry for a government that would 
be one in fact as well as in name. The situation is 
described with great force by Mr. Justice Story, in his Com- 
mentaries on the Constitution : " Congress in peace was 
possessed of but a delusive and shadowy sovereignty, 
with little more than the empty pageantry of office. They 
were, indeed, clothed with authority of sending and receiv- 
ing ambassadors ; of entering into treaties and alliances ; 
of appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies 
on the high seas ; of regulating the public coin ; of fixing 
the standard of weights and measures ; of regulating 
trade with the Indians ; of establishing post offices ; of 
borrowing money and emitting bills of credit ; of ascer- 
taining and appropriating the sums necessary for defraying 
the public expenses, and of disposing of the western terri- 
tory. And most of these powers required for their exer- 
cise the assent of nine States. But they possessed not 
any power to raise any revenue, to lay any tax, to enforce 
any law, to secure any right, to regulate any trade, or 
even the poor prerogative of commanding means to pay 
its own ministers at a foreign court. They could contract 
debts, but they were without means to discharge them. 
They could pledge the public faith, but they were incapa- 
ble of redeeming it. They could enter into treaties, but 
every State in the Union might disobey them with impu- 
nity. They could contract alliances, but they could not 
command men or money to give them vigor. They could 
institute courts for piracies and felonies on the high seas, 
but they had no means to pay the judges or the jurors. 
In short, all powers which did not execute themselves were 
at the mercy of the States and might be trampled on with 
impunity." Washington said the Confederation was "a 
half-starved limping government, always moving upon 
crutches and tottering at every step ; and that what was 
needed was an indissoluble union of States, with power in the 
Federal head to regulate and govern the general concerns 
of the country, the States retaining control of all matters of a 



50 Address of Justice Harlan. 

local character. The Confederation has been well described 
as a government that had power to declare everything, with- 
out the power to do anything. The statesmen of that day, 
James Wilson among the number, demanded the creation 
of a government, with authority to exert every power con- 
ferred upon it against all comers, whether States or armed 
combinations of individuals. Of course many deemed it 
impossible for the patriots of the Revolutionary period to 
establish, much less to maintain, such a government. But 
if the pessimists of those times could reappear upon the 
earth and look over this country now extending from 
ocean to ocean, with more than seventy millions of pros- 
perous, happy and contented people, all standing under 
one flag, all obedient to the same constitution, so strong 
that there are none to molest or to make them afraid, he 
would see that he had misapprehended the capacity of our 
fathers to lay the foundation of free institutions grounded 
upon the principle, vital in our republican system, of local 
rule in respect of local matters, and national rule in respect 
of national matters. 

It was in this city, in a building still standing. Inde- 
pendence Hall, that the Convention met that gave to 
America the matchless Constitution under which our 
people have lived for more than a century. In that his- 
toric Hall James Wilson was often heard in support of the 
essential principles of stable government. He was recog- 
nized as the most learned member of that notable body. 
Webster said that Justice was the great interest of man on 
earth. Of Justice as illustrated by the science of the law 
Wilson had been an earnest devotee from his early man- 
hood. In the highest and best sense he was a great 
Lawyer. Still more, he had become a master in the sci- 
ence of Government. He was therefore pre-eminently 
qualified to take part in la5dng the foundations of institu- 
tions under which the rights of man would be secure 
against the assaults of power. What a privilege it was 
to look upon that convention of patriots and statesmen — 



Address of Justice Harlan. 51 

the wisest assemblage of public servants that ever con- 
vened at any time in the history of the world — no one of 
them wiser than James Wilson. 

The Convention met in September 1787, all the States 
except one being represented. Its composition and the 
history of its proceedings will always interest the student 
of American history. Its President was Washington. Its 
most conspicuous members were Franklin, Wilson and 
Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, Madison and Mason of 
Virginia, King of Massachusetts, Sherman of Connecti- 
cut, Hamilton of New York, Paterson of New Jersey, 
Dickinson of Delaware, Rutledge and the Pinckneys of 
South Carolina. 

The historian McMaster, an honored Professor of this 
University, in an article relating to the Convention, says : 
" Hardly one of them but had sat in some famous assem- 
bly, had signed some famous document, had filled some 
high place, or had made himself conspicuous for learning, 
for scholarship, or for signal services rendered in the cause 
of liberty. One had framed the Albany plan of Union, 
some had been members of the Stamp Act Congress of 
1763, the names of others appear at the foot of the Decla- 
ration of Independence and at the foot of the Articles 
of Confederation ; two had been Presidents of Congress ; 
seven had been or were then Governors of States ; twenty- 
eight had been members of Congress ; one had com- 
manded the armies of the United States ; another had 
been superintendent of finance ; a third had been repeat- 
edly sent on important missions to England, and had 
long been Minister to France." 

The solemn responsibility which the members of the 
Constitutional Convention felt appears from a letter of the 
celebrated George Mason, in which he said : " May God 
grant we may be able to gratify them by establishing a 
wise and just government. For my own part I never 
before felt myself in such a situation, and declare I would 
not, upon pecuniary motives, serve in this Convention for 



52 Address of Justice Harlan. 

a thousand pounds per day. The revolt from Great 
Britain and the formation of our new government at that 
time were nothing compared with the great business now 
before us. There was then a certain degree of enthusiasm, 
which inspired and supported the mind ; but to view, 
through the calm and sedate medium of reason, the in- 
fluence which the establishments now proposed may have 
upon the happiness or misery of millions yet unborn, is 
an object of such magnitude as absorbs, and in a manner 
suspends, the operations of the human understanding." 
" The establishment of a constitution," said Hamilton, "in 
time of profound peace, b}'- the voluntary consent of a 
whole people, is a prodigy to the completion of which I 
look forward with trembling anxiety." 

The Constitution as framed was far from being satis- 
factory to every member of the Convention. But there 
pervaded the body a spirit of amity and concession. All 
believed that upon the acceptance of the proposed Con- 
stitution depended the Union of the States and the 
existence of our liberties — for all felt that a common govern- 
ment with ample power to deal with matters that concerned 
the people of all the States was absolutely necessary to 
preserve the fruits of the struggle for independence. Said 
Hamilton : "I am anxious that every member should 
sign. A few by refusing may do infinite mischief. No 
man's ideas are more remote from the plan than my own 
are known to be ; but is it possible to deliberate between 
anarchy and convulsion on one side, and the chance of 
good to be expected from the plan on the other? " 

The closing scenes of the Convention must have pos- 
sessed extraordinary interest for those present. Just before 
the delegates signed the Constitution, the venerable Frank- 
lin, then past eighty years, fearing that some hesitated to 
sign, said : " The opinions I have had of its errors, I 
sacrifice to the public good. Within these walls they 
were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us, in 
returning to our constitutents, were to report the objec- 



Address of Justice Harlan. 53 

tions he had made to it, and endeavor to gain partisans 
in support of them, we might prevent its being generally- 
received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects and 
great advantages resulting naturally in our favor, among 
foreign nations as well as among ourselves, from our real 
or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and effi- 
ciency of any government in procuring and securing hap- 
piness to the people depends on opinion — on the general 
opinion of the goodness of the government, as well as of 
the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope, there- 
fore, that for our own sakes as part of the people, and for 
the sake of our posterity, we shall act heartily and unani- 
mously in recommending this Constitution wherever our 
influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts and 
endeavors to the means of having it well administered." 
And we have the authority of Madison for this interesting 
circumstance : *' Whilst the last members were signing, 
Dr. Franklin, looking towards the President's chair, at the 
back of which, on the wall, a rising sun happened to be 
painted, observed to a few members near him that painters 
had often found it difficult in their art to distinguish a 
rising from a setting sun. ' I have,' said he, ' often and 
often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitude of 
my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun 
behind the President, without being able to tell whether it 
was rising or setting ; but now, at length, I have the hap- 
piness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.' " 
Another interesting fact has been stated in connec- 
tion with the closing scenes of the Convention. In the 
diary of Washington — the anniversary of whose birthday 
we celebrate to-morrow — it is recorded that, on the eve- 
ning of the day when the Convention finally adjourned, 
he retired at an early hour ** to mediate on the moment- 
ous work which had been executed " — an eloquent picture 
unconsciously drawn for us with his own hand. We may 
well believe that the deep, calm nature of that man of 
massive mould was profoundly stirred when, at the close 



54 Address of Justice Harlan. 

of that memorable day, he looked forward into the future 
and attempted to forecast the destiny of his beloved coun- 
try under the form of government proposed for its adop- 
tion. If the work then executed appeared to him to be 
momentous in its character and in its probable results, 
how much more so does it appear to us, as we look back 
over the wonderful history of this wonderful nation ! 
When we think of what he did for our country, we cannot 
be surprised at the estimate placed upon him by Gladstone. 
In a letter written by that distinguished statesman as late 
as 1884, he said : " If among the pedestals supplied by 
history for public characters of extraordinary nobility and 
purity, I saw one higher than all the rest, and if I were 
required at a moment's notice to name the fittest occupant 
of it, I think my choice, at any time during the last forty- 
five years, would have lighted, and it would now light, 
upon Washington." 

We come now to the period when the people of the 
original States were considering whether they would 
accept or reject the proposed Constitution. The struggle 
was one of surpassing interest: Every conceivable objec- 
tion was raised against the adoption of the Constitution, 
It was a hand-to-hand contest, and in the front rank of 
the friends of the proposed Union was James Wilson. 
Upon the result, the friends of the Constitution felt, de- 
pended all that was worth preserving. 

The chief interest centered around the conventions in 
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia and New York, the 
most powerful and influential of the States. By the terms 
of the submission the Constitution went into effect when 
nine States should adopt it. 

In the Pennsylvania Convention the recognized leader 
of the Constitutional forces was Wilson, the only member 
of that body who ha(i been a member of the Convention 
that framed the Constitution. Standing with him in that 
memorable contest was Thomas McKean, an able states- 
man and an enlightened jurist, who was declared by John 



Address of Justice Harlan. 55 

Adams to be one of the best tried and foremost pillars of 
the Revolution. Wilson's speeches in that Convention 
have been characterized as the most comprehensive and 
luminous commentaries on the Constitution that have 
come down from that period. In his late work on the 
American Commonwealth, Bryce expressed the opinion 
that Wilson's speeches " in the Pennsylvania Ratifying 
Convention, as well as in the great Convention of 1787, 
display an amplitude and profundity of view in matters 
of constitutional theory which place him in the front rank 
of political thinkers of his age." Those of the opposition 
whom he met in debate in the Pennsylvania Convention 
were men of marked ability and undoubted courage. The 
Constitution, he frankly stated, was not in every respect 
what he desired. " But," he said, " when I reflect how 
widely men differ in their opinions, and that every man — 
and the observation applies likewise to every State — has 
an equal pretension to assert his own, I am satisfied that 
anything nearer to perfection could not have been accom- 
plished. If there are errors, it should be remembered that 
the seeds of reformation are sown in the work itself, and 
the concurrence of two-thirds of the Congress may at any 
time introduce alterations and amendments. Regarding 
it then in every point of view, with a candid and disin- 
terested mind, I am bold to assert that it is the best form 
of government which has ever been offered to the world." 
In reply to the suggestion that the Constitution proposed 
for acceptance worked the destruction of the State govern- 
ments, Wilson declared the contrary to be capable of 
demonstration, saying that " the State governments must 
exist, or the General Government must fall amidst their 
ruins." Alluding to certain observations of Mr. Findley, 
he said : " His [Findley's] position is, that the supreme 
power resides in the States, as governments, and mine is, 
that it resides in the people, as the fountain of govern- 
ment ; that the people have not — that the people mean 
not — and that the people ought not, to part with it to any 



56 Address of Justice Harlan. 

government whatsoever. In their hands it remains secure. 
They can delegate it in such proportions, to such bodies, 
on such terms, and under such limitations, as they think 
proper. I agree with the members in opposition, that 
there cannot be two sovereign powers on the same sub- 
ject." " My position is, sir, that in this country the 
supreme, absolute and uncontrollable power resides in the 
people at large ; that they have vested certain propor- 
tions of this power in the State governments, but that the 
fee simple continues, resides and remains with the body 
of the people." 

All are familiar with the history of the memorable 
debate in the Senate of the United States between the 
Expounder of the Constitution and those holding that 
the General Government was a mere league or compact 
between sovereign States from which any State could 
withdraw at pleasure, and thereby dissolve the Union 
ordained and established by the People of the United 
States. But Webster was not the first statesman who 
expressed the thought that this government was not a 
mere league or compact between sovereign States, 
although it devolved upon him to demonstrate — and all 
America now agrees that he did demonstrate, with un- 
surpassed power of logic, reasoning and eloquence — that 
the Union could not be legally dissolved by the act of 
any States, and could only be overturned by revolution. 
Wilson, in the Pennsylvania Convention of 1787, had, 
long before that debate, said : " This, Mr. President, is 
not a government founded upon compact ; it is founded 
upon the power of the people. * * * The system 
itself tells you what it is ; it is an ordinance and estab- 
lishment of the people. I think that the force of the in- 
troduction to the work must by this time have been felt. 
It is not an unmeaning flourish. The expressions declare, 
in a practical manner, the principle of this Constitution. 
It is ordained and established by the people themselves ; 
and we, who give our votes to it, are merely the proxies 



Address of Justice Harlan. 57 

of our constituents. We sign it as their attorneys, and 
as to ourselves we agree to it as individuals. This 
system, sir, will make us a nation, and put it in the power 
of the Union to act as such. We will be considered as 
such by every nation in the world. We will regain the 
confidence of our own citizens and command the respect 
of others." 

" I am astonished," exclaimed Wilson in debate, " to 
hear the ill-founded doctrine that States alone ought to 
be represented in the Federal Government ; these must 
possess sovereign authority, forsooth, and the people be 
forgot ! No ; let us reascend to first principles. * * * 
The people of the United States are now in the posses- 
sion and exercise of their original rights, and while this 
doctrine is known and operates we shall have a cure for 
every disease." "The streams of power," he said, "run 
in different directions, but they all originally fiow from 
one abundant fountain. In this Constitution all authority 
is derived from the people." In one of his last appeals 
to the Convention for the ratification of the proposed 
Constitution, he said : " By adopting this system, we 
shall probably lay a foundation for erecting temples of 
liberty in every part of the earth. It has been thought 
by many that on the success of the struggle America has 
made for freedom will depend the exertions of the brave 
and enlightened of other nations. The advantages re- 
sulting from this system will not be confined to the 
United States ; it will draw from Europe many worthy 
characters, who pant for the enjoyment of freedom. It 
will induce princes, in order to preserve their subjects, to 
restore to them a portion of that liberty of which they 
have for so many ages been deprived. . It will be sub- 
servient to the great designs of Providence, with regard 
to this globe, in the multiplication of mankind,^their im- 
provement in knowledge, and their advancement in hap- 
piness." 

In view of these declarations by Wilson as to the 



58 Address of Justice Harlan. 

scope of the Constitution presented for adoption or rejec- 
tion, one cannot be surprised that when he became an 
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States he said in one of his opinions : " Whoever consid- 
ers, in a combined and comprehensive view, the general 
texture of the Constitution, will be satisfied that the 
people of the United States intended to form themselves 
into a Nation for national purposes. They instituted for 
such purposes a National Government complete in all 
its parts, with powers legislative, executive and judi- 
cial ; and in all those powers extending over the whole 
nation." 

Wilson and his associates succeeded in the Pennsyl- 
vania Convention ; for that body, representing the people, 
accepted the Constitution by a vote of forty-six to twenty- 
three. Accompanied by the President, and Vice Presi- 
dent of the State, members of Congress, the Faculty of 
the University and other officials, the members of the 
Convention proceeded to the Court House, and the rati- 
fication was read to an immense concourse of people. 
Cannon were fired and the bells on public buildings and 
churches were rung as evidence of the popular joy. This 
happy result was mainly due to Wilson. Bancroft the 
historian has gone so far as to say, in reference to Wilson's 
services in the Pennsylvania Convention, that " but for 
one thing, without doubt, Pennsylvania would have 
refused to have ratified the Convention, and that one 
incident marks alike the technical knowledge, the com- 
prehensive grasp, and the force of argument, of this great 
man." The effect of the action of Pennsylvania upon 
Conventions in other States was everywhere recognized. 

In the Massachusetts Convention the leaders in debate 
were King, Ames and Parsons. The final vote was one 
hundred and eighty-seven for and one hundred and sixty- 
eight against the acceptance of the Constitution. A 
change of ten votes would have produced a different 
result. The acceptance of the Constitution by Massa- 



Address of Justice Harlan. 59 

chusetts although unconditional was accompanied by- 
resolutions expressing her opinion that the adoption of 
certain amendments and alterations " would remove the 
fears and quiet the apprehensions of many of the good 
people of the Commonwealth, and more effectually guard 
against an undue administration of the Federal Govern- 
ment." 

In Virginia there was a long and bitter contest. 
Washington was not in the Convention, but he was the real 
commander of the Virginia Constitutional forces. Indeed, 
from his quiet retreat at Mount Vernon he conducted the 
campaign for the Constitution throughout the whole 
country. To Patrick Henry he transmitted a copy of the 
Constitution, confessing that while it did not contain all 
that he desired, its adoption was of the last consequence. 
" From a variety of concurring events," he wrote, " it 
appears to me that the political concerns of this country 
are in a manner suspended by a thread," and if nothing 
had been agreed upon by the Convention, " anarchy 
would soon have ensued, the seeds being deeply sowed in 
every soil." To Edmund Randolph he declared that the 
proposed Constitution, " or a dissolution of the Union 
awaits our choice, and is the only alternative before us." 
To Lafayette he wrote : " There is no alternative, no hope 
of alteration, no intermediate resting place between the 
adoption of the Constitution and a recurrence to an un- 
qualified state of anarchy, with all of its deplorable conse- 
quences." The leaders in the Virginia Convention for the 
Constitution were Madison, Pendleton, Randolph, Nicho- 
las and Marshall. The opposition was led by Henry, Lee, 
Grayson, Monroe and Mason. They opposed the accept- 
ance of the Constitution in the belief that it tended to the 
destruction of the States, by creating a vast, consolidated, 
all-powerful central government, that would ultimately 
overthrow the principle of local government for local 
affairs. The position these men took did not prove them 
to be wanting in patriotism ; for they were foremost 



6o Address of Justice Harlan. 

throughout the Revolutionary period in asserting the 
rights of American freemen. 

The position in which the Virginia Convention was 
placed was very peculiar. While the debate was in prog- 
ress, it was known that eight States had accepted the 
Constitution. The others were supposed to be holding 
back to see what Virginia would do. The final vote was 
eighty-nine for and seventy-nine against the Constitution. 
When the friends of the Constitution prevailed, it was 
supposed that Virginia was the ninth State to accept. 
But in fact, unknown to the members of that Convention, 
New Hampshire had accepted the Constitution before 
Virginia. As soon as New Hampshire voted for it, a 
messenger was sent to Virginia to carry the good news 
to the friends of the Constitution there ; and as soon as 
Virginia accepted it, a messenger was sent to New 
Hampshire to notify its friends there and give them 
encouragement. These messengers passed each other 
on their respective routes without meeting. So that 
New Hampshire and Virginia each voted in ignorance of 
what the other had done. 

The struggle in the New York Convention was extra- 
ordinary in every view. When the Convention met there 
was a very large majority under the lead of strong men, 
against accepting the Constitution. The minority was led 
by Alexander Hamilton. A writer has said that the 
debates in the New York Convention were like a 
"Homeric battle, Hamilton against a host;" that his 
mind, " like an ample shield, took all their darts, with 
verge enough for more." Unfortunately there is no full 
report of that great debate. But it has come to us from 
that time that the display of intellectual power in those 
debates by young Hamilton was most extraordinary — the 
more so because he did not altogether approve the plan of 
government devised by the Constitution and had accepted 
it only from a high sense of duty and patriotism. It has 
been said of him that " of all men who have ever lived in 



Address of Justice Harlan, 6i 

the United States, his was the most complete mind. He 
seemed to absorb information. Upon any subject he 
could leap fully armed into the saddle, ready to meet all 
comers. If right, he was irresistible ; if wrong, master of 
sophistry, he was almost irrefutable." Talleyrand, who 
was acquainted with all the celebrated men of his day, 
said that the greatest he had ever known were Napoleon, 
Fox and Hamilton, and that Hamilton was the first. 

As the debate was about to close, the news came that 
New Hampshire had accepted the Constitution. That 
information was brought by the messenger sent to Vir- 
ginia, who stopped en route in New York. And when in 
a day or so the news came that Virginia had also accepted 
the Constitution the opposition in New York gave way. 
New York did not accept the Constitution in distinct and 
unqualified terms. But its acceptance was legally suffi- 
cient. The vote was thirty for, to twenty-seven against, 
acceptance. In the circular letter sent by New York to 
the Governors of the States we find these words : " Our 
attachment to our sister States, and the confidence we 
repose in them, cannot be more forcibly demonstrated 
than by acceding to a government which many of us 
think very imperfect, and devolving the power of deter- 
mining whether that government shall be rendered per- 
petual in its present form, or altered agreeably to our 
wishes and a minority of the State with whom we unite," 

Thus was born the present Union of the States, The 
predictions of those who prophesied evil from its creation 
have not been verified. The hopes of those who said it 
would preserve all that had been won by the war for 
independence have been more than fulfilled. It is a 
strong government because its powers are enumerated 
and are sufficient to accomplish the object of its creation 
— strong also because it really rests upon the consent of 
the people. 

The secret of the success that attended the framing 
of the Constitution was well expressed by James Russell 



62 Address of Justice Harlan. 

Lowell when in his address in England on Democracy he 
said : " They (the framers of the Constitution) had a pro- 
found disbelief in theory, and knew better than to commit 
the folly of breaking with the past. They were not seduced 
by the French fallacy that a new system of government 
could be ordered like a new suit of clothes. They would 
as soon thought of ordering a new suit of flesh and skin. 
It is only on the roaring loom of time that the stuff is 
woven for such a vesture of their thought and experience 
as they were meditating." 

" The best reason," another American said, " for 
American pride in the Constitution lies, not in the creative 
genius of its framers, nor in the beauty and symmetry of 
their work, but in the fact that it was and is a perfect ex- 
pression of the institutional methods of its people." And 
therein is found full justification for the observation that 
'* the statesmen of the American Revolution have taken 
their places once for all amongst the great political instruc- 
tors of the world." 

This work of the fathers is not however to be under- 
rated because largely based upon experience. For, as 
said by David Hume in one of his essays, " to balance a 
large estate or society, whether monarchical or republican, 
on general laws, is a work of so great difficulty that no 
human genius, however comprehensive, is able by the 
mere dint of reason and reflection to eflect it. The judg- 
ment of many must unite in the work ; experience must 
guide their labor ; time must bring it to perfection ; and 
the feeling of inconveniences must correct the mistakes 
which they inevitably fall into in their first trials and 
experiments." 

Let us examine for a few moments the distinguish- 
ing features of the old government that Wilson assisted 
in displacing and the new government that he aided 
in establishing. As already observed, the Articles of 
Confederation were addressed to the State governments, 
while the Constitution speaks to individuals as well 



Address of Justice Harlan. 63 

as to the States. Under the Articles of Confedera- 
tion it was " We, the States," while under the Constitution 
it is, " We, the People of the United States." The Union 
created by the Constitution does not depend upon the will 
of any State or combination of States. It cannot be laid 
aside at pleasure. It has within itself the means of per- 
petuating its own existence. Its hand reaches to the 
remotest corners of the Republic, and its power compels 
obedience to the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the 
Land, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State 
to the contrary notwithstanding. When the Government 
of the United States acts within the limits of the powers 
conferred upon it, it acts for all the People of the United 
States. No State can stand between any citizen and 
obedience to the rightful authority of the Union. 

In the time of the Confederation a squad of discon- 
tented soldiers, less than one hundred in number, appeared 
in front of Independence Hall, in which Congress was 
sitting, and demanded the enactment of certain measures, 
thereby compelling that body, for the personal safety of 
its members, to change its place of meeting from Phila- 
delphia to New Jersey. There was no power to protect 
even Congress in the discharge of its great functions, 
Pennsylvania did not interpose, and its executive did not 
care to come into conflict with his fellow citizens. The 
spectacle was thus presented of the Congress of the Con- 
federation fleeing before a mob contemptible in numbers, 
however honest in purpose. 

Early in the history of the present National Govern- 
ment, some citizens of this Commonwealth, being dis- 
pleased with laws enacted by Congress for purposes of 
revenue, organized on a large scale what is called the 
Whisky Rebellion. They had many apologists in leading 
politicians of that day, who addressed them as the ** dear 
people," whose rights were being destroyed by a despotic 
government. But Washington was at the head of affairs, 
and Hamilton was at his side. The Father of his Country 



64 Address of Justice Harlan. 

determined to vindicate the majesty of the law and sent 
troops under Light Horse Harry Lee to the scene of dis- 
turbance. The misguided insurrectionists dispersed as the 
national troops bearing the flag of the Union approached 
the locality of the disturbance. 

In 1 86 1, when it was sought by armed force to take 
the life of the Nation, there was power in the govern- 
ment of the Union to reinstate the National authority over 
every foot of our territory. In that hour of peril to all 
that was dear to us, the gallant sons of Pennsylvania 
were well to the front. The people of this Commonwealth 
will always cherish the memory of those brave soldiers 
of the Union. That our soldiers did not die in vain, that 
the American people were able to preserve the national 
life, that we have now a union of hearts and a union of 
hands, is due to the fact that our fathers established a 
government that could preserve its own life and enforce 
its own authority. And what power, let me ask, was 
given to that government that ought not to have been 
given to it, or that any one would now take from it ? The 
power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and ex- 
cises, for the purpose of paying the debts and providing 
for the common defense and the general welfare of the 
United States ; to borrow money on the credit of the 
United States ; to regulate commerce with foreign nations 
and among the several States ; to establish an uniform 
rule of naturalization ; to pass uniform laws on the sub- 
ject of bankruptcies ; to coin money, and to regulate the 
value thereof ; to establish post offices and post roads ; 
to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by 
securing for limited times to authors and inventors the 
exclusive right to their respective writings and, discov- 
eries ; to make treaties ; to create a judiciary, competent 
to determine controversies between citizens of different 
States and controversies involving rights and questions 
arising under the Constitution, laws and treaties of the 
United States ; to declare war ; to raise and support 



Address of Justice Harlan. 65 

armies ; to provide and maintain a navy ; and to make 
all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
these and other powers vested by the Constitution in the 
General Government — will any one now say that the 
Nation ought not to have such powers ? Does any one 
suppose that those powers, or any of them, could be 
exerted by the States without imperiling the interests of 
the whole Nation ? The rights that grow out of the exer- 
cise of these and other powers are essentially National 
rights, in the preservation of which we are all, without 
regard to party lines, deeply concerned. No higher duty 
rests upon us than to see to it — each one in his peculiar 
sphere of duty — that the general government is not shorn 
of any right belonging to it under the Constitution. 

We have all been accustomed to hear of the tenden- 
cies of the General Government, by its various depart- 
ments to encroach upon the rights of the States. There 
are some who never weary of saying that the Federal 
judiciary continually usurps powers that do not belong to 
it, and seeks to impair the rightful authority of the States. 
The truth is that the National Government has been com- 
pelled, from its organization, to struggle for the privilege 
of existing and of exerting its rightful powers. Every exer- 
cise of power by the United States has been narrowly 
watched, criticised and, often without reason, opposed, 
under the pretence that States' Rights were being 
destroyed. But, although it is literally true that the 
Nation has had to fight for its right to exert its rightful 
authority, it must be said that opposition to the exercise 
of power by the National Government is not altogether 
unnatural. In a large sense we all stand for local rule. 
The germinal idea of American liberty is local self-govern- 
ment. We are home rulers by instinct, a feeling that has 
its root in affection for our own families above other 
families. Each man loves, above all other places, the one 
in which he was born and reared. When he returns to 
the old homestead in which he first saw the light of day, 



66 Address of Justice Harlan. 

or in which his youth was passed, he cannot repress 
emotions of love for that particular place. Why, here is 
the same old bucket that hung- in the well when he 
was a boy. Here is the apple tree from whose 
branches was suspended his swing; every bud and tree 
and flower is dear to him because this was his home. So 
we love the town or city in which we live. The good 
people of this beautiful city like it better, I doubt not, 
than any other city, even in Pennsylvania. And the 
man of Pennsylvania would be looked upon with distrust, 
or as not a true son of this great Commonwealth, if he 
was not ready under all circumstances to say — indeed, to 
prove — that the women of Pennsylvania were the hand- 
somest women, the people of Pennsylvania the best people, 
and Pennsylvania the best State in all the world. In view 
of these tendencies in our natures, it may be expected that 
the States should be, now and then, jealous of the exercise 
of power by the General Government. It is, perhaps, 
well that they are, because it is as true to-day, as it was 
in the times of the Revolution, as it was far back in the 
periods of English history when the people won their 
rights from despotic rulers only by hard blows, that real 
liberty — the liberty that means something and for which 
men will die — depends not so much upon the absence of 
actual oppression, as upon the existence of constitutional 
checks that will keep governmental authority within 
proper bounds, and render oppression impossible. The 
disposition in all ages of many in authority to exceed their 
just powers has riveted in the hearts of the people the 
stern maxim that " eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 
Watch the National Government then, if you will — scan 
closely all that it does or proposes to do — resist, within 
the limits of the law, all tendencies that are hostile to the 
reserved rights of the States. But let us at the same time 
remember that our all, and perhaps the hopes of freemen 
everywhere depend upon the recognition of the right of 
the National Government to exercise the powers belonging 



Address of Justice Harlan. 67 

to it under the Constitution. And that right becomes the 
more important as our nation expands in population and 
territory. Careful men have estimated that our country 
when fully developed is capable of sustaining a popula- 
tion of one thousand millions of people. The time is 
certain to arrive, if this people remain true to their great 
destiny, when our Nation will be, if it has not already 
become, the most powerful factor in all movements that 
affect the peace of the world and the rights of man. The 
stronger we become in population arid the more extended 
we become in territory, the more vital are the powers of 
the Nation ; for only the government of the Nation — which 
as said by Chief Justice Marshall, is the government of all, 
whose powers are delegated by all, and which represents 
and acts for all — can keep all parts of our land together, 
as it was intended they should be kept, in the bonds of 
indissoluble Union. 

These observations about the rights of the Nation 
have been made because of the tendency in some quar- 
ters to deny to it rights and powers that are essential 
to our existence as one people, But do not suppose that 
I undervalue the rights of the States. There are National 
Rights and there are State Rights. To the States we 
must look primarily for protection in our lives, our liber- 
ties and our property. They have rights, as sacred as 
are the rights of the Nation. The State governments are 
vital in our constitutional system. Indeed, without the 
States under the Constitution there could be no United 
States of America. The States deal with matters over 
which it would be impossible for the National Govern- 
ment to exercise proper supervision. Those who speak 
slightingly of State rights do not appreciate the real sig- 
nificance of the relations of the States to the General 
Government. The fact is, we are coming to feel more 
than ever before that our liberties are involved in the 
preservation of the rights of the States. There are some 
who affect to think that the States stand in the way of 



68 Address of Justice Harlan. 

accomplishing the great objects of the National Govern- 
ment and who would destroy them by such interpreta- 
tions of the National Constitution as would leave them 
but shadows of governments. There are others who 
affect to see in every act of Congress a purpose to over- 
turn the rightful authority of the States. The teachings 
of each of these classes are to be disregarded. We are 
not deceived by them. The people, the common people, 
of whom Lincoln spoke, know that the rights of the 
State, in their highest and best constitutional sense, have 
been preserved and are in no danger whatever from the 
action of the General Government. The real friends of 
State rights are those who concede to the General Gov- 
ernment the powers committed to it by the National Con- 
stitution, and the real friends of the Union are those who 
respect the reserved powers of the States. 

Only a short time ago might have been witnessed in 
London a spectacle which for magnificence and splendor 
has never been surpassed in the history of the world. 
The Houses of Parliament went in a body to present an 
address to Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Victoria. The 
Lord Chancellor of England, the highest judicial officer 
in the British Empire, kneeled before Her Majesty, and 
remained upon his knees until he had read the address of 
Parliament. He did not kneel because he was in the 
presence of a gracious woman — as any brave, manly per- 
son might well do — but because he was in the presence of a 
Sovereign. He and those whom he represented were 
subjects of a single human being exerting the powers of 
sovereignty. At one time in the history of this country a 
few misguided men left our shores and went to the aid of 
patriotic Cubans struggling to be free. They were 
arrested and condemned to be shot by order of the Cap- 
tain-General of that oppressed island. When the time 
came for their execution William Crittenden, one of the 
number, was blindfolded and ordered to kneel, that his 
executioners might the more easily take his life. The 



Address of Justice Harlan. 69 

proud-spirited man, a descendant of a Revolutionary hero, 
with head erect and fearless of death, refused to kneel, and 
replied : " An American kneels only to his God !" In En- 
gland, to use the language of Mr. Gladstone, the Sovereign 
" is the symbol of the Nation's unity, and the apex of the 
social structure ; the maker (with advice) of the laws ; the 
supreme governor of the Church ; the fountain of justice ; 
the sole source of honor ; the person to whom, all military, 
all naval, all civil service is rendered." Our Sovereign is 
not he who for the time wields the Executive power 
of the United States. Our Sovereign is the People. They 
are the source of power and justice in this land. Their 
will is expressed by written constitutions and by laws passed 
in pursuance thereof, and to that will all must yield 
obedience. No man here is so high that he is above the 
law. No one here assumes to rule by divine right, but 
only in the mode prescribed by law and that law comes 
into existence only by the consent of the People acting 
by their representatives. Our institutions emphatically 
rest upon the sovereignty of the public will. Upon this 
principle they must always rest, unless in an evil hour, 
when all the guarantees of freedom have been destroyed, 
we should return to the exploded theory that the rights 
of life, liberty and property are such only as are conceded 
by those who dominate the people. 

My friends, I must apologize for detaining you so 
long. The subject of my remarks has always been one of 
interest to me. I never tire of reading about the great 
men who laid in this goodly land the foundations of free 
republican government. The history of our country is to 
be traced in the lives of men like Washington, the 
Adamses, Hamilton, Franklin, Wilson, Henry, Madison, 
Jefferson, Marshall, Mason, Lee and Ellsworth. The Gov- 
ernment which they assisted in establishing is entitled to 
our affection and support. The lessons to be drawn from 
their lives are absolute fidelity to country and unflinching 
adherence to those principles which must be regarded if 



70 Address of Justice Harlan. 

government of the people, by the people and for the peo- 
ple is not to disappear. 

May I not add that now more than at any period in 
our history is it necessary that we be faithful to sound 
principles of government and liberty regulated by law. 
Our country has reached a critical and momentous period, 
and the utmost vigilance and the most unselfish patriotism 
are demanded from every genuine American. The time 
has come when we must be Americans, through and 
through. We have no right to turn our backs upon pub- 
lic affairs, or to become indifferent to the fate of our insti- 
tutions. Still less have we a right to enjoy the blessings 
and protection of this glorious land while continually 
saying and doing that which serves to strengthen the 
hands of the enemies of the Republic. Some people have 
a strange way in which to manifest their devotion to coun- 
try. They rarely see in the operations of the Government 
anything to approve, and they never fail, when the Nation 
is having a dispute with other peoples, to say that our 
country is wrong and our adversaries right. And they do 
this even while our soldiers are in far distant lands endeav- 
oring to maintain the rightful authority of the Nation. 
Some have not hesitated to say, in the most public man- 
ner, that those who from jungles ambush and shoot down 
our brave soldiers, are fighting the battles of liberty and 
doing only what they have a right to do, what their honor 
requires. These men are never happier than when at- 
tempting to persuade their fellow citizens that America is 
entering upon a dark and perilous future, and that all so 
far accomplished for the liberty and well being of the 
people will be lost if the Nation does not retrace its steps. 
For my own part, I believe that a destiny awaits America 
such as has never been vouchsafed to any people and that 
in the working out of that destiny, under the leadings of 
Providence, humanity everywhere will be lifted up, and 
power and tyranny compelled to recognize the fact that 
" God is no respecter of persons," and that He " hath 



Address of Justice Harlan, 71 

made of one blood all nations of men." Let us have an 
abiding faith that our country will never depart from the 
fundamental principles of right and justice or prove 
recreant to the high trusts committed to it for the benefit 
not alone of the American people but of all men every- 
where on all the earth. We have had our days of gloom 
and darkness. We have had political storms that seemed 
to threaten the destruction of our institutions ; and now 
and then we may have been somewhat faint-hearted as to 
our destiny and doubted whether all was well for the 
Great Republic. But those storms passed away, and we 
rejoice that our apprehensions were groundless. We may 
expect storms in the future ; for nothing worth preserving 
has ever been achieved by individuals or by nations 
except through trials and sacrifices. Take courage in the 
belief that the American people are pure in heart, and 
have no desire or purpose other than to maintain the 
authority of the Nation wherever the flag floats, and to 
preserve unimpaired to the latest generation the free in- 
stitutions given them by the fathers. Taught by the 
experience of the past we will stand at our respective 
posts of duty in the firm conviction that the kind Provi- 
dence that has always watched over this People will pre- 
serve our heritage of constitutional liberty. We love 
the " rocks and rills," the " woods and templed hills " of 
this beautiful land, and come what may, we will give to 
America the best service of which we are capable. Let 
us feel about our country as did William Tell for his be- 
loved land, when being overtaken in the mountains of 
Switzerland by a furious storm, he is represented as 
saying — 

" I thought of other lands, whose storms 
Are summer flaws to those of mine, and just 
Have wished me there : the thought that mine -was free 
Has checked that wish ; and I have raised my head, 
And cried in thraldom to that furious wind, 
' Blow on : this is the land of Liberty ! ' " 



72 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

Provost Harrison then introduced as the next speaker 
the Honorable SiR Charles Arthur Roe, who deUv- 
ered the following address on The Constitutional Rela- 
tions of England and her Dependencies. 

According to the last official statistics published by 
the Colonial Office, the Colonial Empire of Great Britain — 
excluding Great Britain itself, and India — extended over 
some 9,750,000 of square miles, with an estimated popu- 
lation of between 23,000,000 and 24,000,000 — the distribu- 
tion of which is thus summarized : 

Countries . Area (Sq. Miles). Population. 

Europe 3,700 427,000 

Asia 124,000 5,279,000 

Africa 2,515,000 5,304,000 

America 3,958,000 5,733,000 

West Indies 12,000 1,514,000 

Australasia 3,175,000 4,926,000 

Total 9,797,700 23,283,000 

If we add to these figures, 

The United Kingdom 121,180 40,000,000 

India 1,560,110 289,000,000 

the total area and population under the Crown of England 
will be nearly 11,500,000 square miles, with some 
350,000,000 of inhabitants. 

It would be impossible to say, without a very elabo- 
rate examination of statistics, what proportion of the 
above area and population can really be regarded as 
British. But speaking roughly, we may say that Canada, 
Australasia, and a great part of the Cape of Good Hope 
are true British colonies in the sense that the bulk of the 
population is of British descent, with English law for 
their personal law, and that they may be expected to 
expand into great English-speaking nations. Of course 
a considerable number of persons of pure British descent 
are to be found in the other parts of the empire, but for 
purposes of enumeration they may be set off against the 
non-British in the British colonies proper. The latter 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 73 

would, on this calculation, contain an area of some 
7,000,000 or 7,500,000 square miles, and a population 
of about 12,000,000. 

I will not attempt to give any detailed account of 
how this great empire has been built up. Part of it was 
acquired by conquest — or as the result of wars — but it is 
to the peaceful industry and enterprise and natural 
aptitude for colonization of her sons that England owes 
ftie greater part of her colonial empire. The foundation 
of this empire was laid by the acquisition of Newfound- 
land in 1583 — and the last act of expansion was the 
arrangement with other European Powers of 1890 by 
which England acquired, or was acknowledged to have 
the right to acquire, some 2,500,000 out of 11,000,000 of 
square miles which is the estimated area of the whole of 
Africa. 

The formal constitutional relations between England 
and her colonies and dependencies is the same for all in 
the sense that all form part of the dominions of the 
Crown, and are, in theory, governed by the Crown 
through the colonial secretary, the history of whose office 
is briefly this : 

In July, 1660, the management of the affairs of the 
colonies was entrusted to a committee of the Privy 
Council, which, in the following December, became the 
Council of Foreign Plantations. This, in 1672, was 
united to the Council of Trade, and the joint body was 
styled the Council of Trade and Plantations. It was 
suppressed in 1677, but revived in 1695, and continued to 
exist down to 1782. In 1768, when the unfortunate quarrel 
between England and her American colonies had com- 
menced, a secretary of state for the colonies was for the 
first time appointed. But both he and the council were 
abolished in 1782, when the quarrel ended in the com- 
plete loss of America, and the affairs of the colonies that 
remained to us were again made over to a committee of 
the Privy Council. This committee was formally consti- 



74 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

tuted in 1786, and subsequendy developed into what is 
now known as the Board of Trade, but after the outbreak 
of the French War in 1793, the committee ceased to have 
anything to do with colonial affairs. These were first made 
over to the Home and then to the War Ofifice, and in 
1 801 a new ofifice of secretary of state for war and the 
colonies was created. This arrangement continued till 
1854, when the outbreak of the Crimean War, as well as 
the rapid growth of the Australian colonies necessitated a 
separation of the two offices. Since then the secretary 
of state for the colonies has had sole charge of their 
affairs. 

But although the colonies and dependencies are alike 
in so far as they are, in theory, governed by the Crown 
through the colonial secretary, their real government pre- 
sents every variety of constitutional relations, from com- 
plete dependence to practical independence. Apart from 
mere posts occupied for naval or military purposes, such 
as Gibraltar, Adeb, Perim, and Wai-o-Wai, which are 
under the Admiralty or War Office, or the government of 
India and "protectorates" or "spheres of influence," 
such as Uganda, Zanzibar, the Niger Coast, and the North 
Borneo Company, which are under the Foreign Office, 
there are under the Colonial Office forty distinct and, as 
regards each other, independent governments or adminis- 
trations. Of these forty, eleven are what is called " self- 
governing colonies," /. c, practically independent govern- 
ments with parliaments of their own. The remaining 
twenty-nine may be grouped as follows : 

I. Without any Legislative Council, that is, where the 
power of legislation is vested in the officer admin- 
istering the government 4 

These may be subdivided into — 

{a) Where the Crown has reserved to itself the 
power of legislating by order in council, 
Malta, Labuan, St. Helena 3 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 75 

{b) Where it has not reserved this power. Ba- 
sutoland i 

II. With Legislative Councils nominated by the Crown i6 

{a) In which the Crown has reserved the power 

of legislating by order in council 15 

{b) Where it has not reserved this power ... i 

III. With Legislative Councils, partly nominated by 

the Crown and partly elected 9 

(a) In which the Crown has reserved the power 

of legislating by order in council 6 

[b) In which it has not reserved the power . . 3 
In the case of all these twenty-nine colonies or 

dependencies the control of the Crown is a real control. 
Where there is no Legislative Council the officer admin- 
istering the government acts entirely under instructions 
received from Home. In the others the case is the same 
in all executive matters, and even where the Legislative 
Council contains the largest elected proportion of mem- 
bers, its powers of legislation are by no means complete, 
that is to say the colonial secretary, even when he does 
not require bills to be submitted to him for approval 
before they are introduced into council, would not hesitate 
to advise the Crown to veto any bill passed by the council 
which he considered objectionable. 

But in the eleven "self-governing" colonies the case 
is very different. They, too, as I have said, are in theory 
and by their written constitutions, so far as they have any, 
governed by the Crown through the colonial secretary. 
The administration is carried on in the name of a governor 
appointed by the Crown, through ministers whom he may 
choose and dismiss at pleasure, and he may veto the most 
deliberate acts of the legislature. But what we now un- 
derstand in England by the term " constitution " is not 
the letter of documents (of which there are hardly any) 
creating or defining the powers of any part of the body 
politic, but the general spirit in which custom, which has 
from time to time changed, and will continue to change, 



76 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

expects each different part to exercise its powers. Lord 
Macaulay, in the opening chapter of his History of Eng- 
land, says with reference to the constitution : 

" The change, great as it is, which her (England's) 
polity has undergone during the last six centuries has 
been the effect of gradual development, not of demolition 
and reconstruction. The present constitution of our 
country is to the constitution under which she flourished 
500 years ago, what the tree is to the sapling, what the 
man is to the boy. The alteration has been great, yet 
there never was a moment at which the chief part of 
what existed was not old. A polity thus formed must 
abound in anomalies, but for the evils arising from mere 
anomalies we have ample compensation. Other societies 
possess written constitutions more symmetrical. But no 
other society has yet succeeded in uniting revolution with 
prescription, progress with stability, the energy of youth 
with the majesty of immemorial antiquity." 

Thus it is that whilst the constitution of England 
at the present day is practically a democracy, in the sense 
that the will of the people as expressed through a 
House of Commons elected on a very broad suffrage, is 
really the supreme power in the state, the sovereign re- 
tains not only the title, but also, in theory, the powers of 
the Tudor and Stuart monarchs, and the House of Lords 
has at least the same power as the House of Commons. 
Yet if either the Crown or the House of Lords were to 
attempt to exercise their powers in opposition to the 
House of Commons their conduct would be denounced as 
" unconstitutional," not because it would be a breach of 
letter of the constitution, but because it has become a 
recognized principle that the Crown can only act on the 
advice of responsible ministers and that the House of 
Lords, though it may and should reject hastily considered 
measures, or measures as to the expediency of which the 
opinion of the nation is divided, is not justified in opposing 
a deliberate and definite expression of the national will. 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe, "jy 

A similar spirit pervades the constitution of the self- 
governing colonies with reference both to their internal 
government and their relation to the mother country. I 
will not attempt to trace the history of these colonies, or 
of any of them, in detail, or to explain the technicalities 
of their existing constitutions. Speaking broadly, it is as 
true of them as of the English constitution, that the present 
state of things is the result of natural development. In its 
early days the head of a colony must have full powers, 
and these must be derived from the Crown, that is the 
responsible government of the mother country, and be 
exercised under the control of the Crown. When the 
colony begins to gain strength, its leading men may be 
selected to assist the governor with their advice and share 
his powers, and the control of the Crown will be relaxed. 
As the strength of the colony increases, the nominated 
council may give place to an elected one, and the control 
of the Crown reduced to a minimum. This is the stage 
which has been reached by the " self governing colonies," 
and, as I have said, it has been reached gradually, not by 
blindly adopting a particular form of government on ac- 
count of its theoretical beauty, but by from time to time 
applying the form most suitable to the circumstances of 
each particular case. There is a great danger in political 
(of course I do not use the word in its party sense) as well 
as in other matters — not excluding even the law, of follow- 
ing theories instead of attending to the facts. This danger 
is particularly great when a country whose government is 
based on a democratic, or popular, foundation is dealing 
with the affairs of a colony or dependency. Because cer- 
tain arrangements, such as the practical vesting of supreme 
power in a popular assembly, trial by jury, liberty of the 
press, work well, or are a necessity in the mother country 
it is assumed that they are great and eternal truths which 
will work equally well in all communities, and that they 
must be applied regardless of consequences, even though 
popular elections may result in a war of races, or chaos, 



y8 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

trial by jury in gross miscarriage of justice, and liberty of 
the press, in anarchy. The true democratic or popular 
principle is, I believe, this, that all governments exist, or 
should exist, for the good of the governed, and that the 
best form of government for every community is the one 
which is under the particular condition of each case most 
calculated to promote this good. The relations between 
a mother country and her colonies and dependencies re- 
semble very closely those between a parent and child. If 
it is incumbent on the parent to protect and control a child 
in its infancy it is equally incumbent on him to recognize 
the fact that the child grows into the man, and that as he 
does so, advice must take the place of command, and at 
last even advice must not be obtruded unasked. I do not 
wish to refer to any of the details of what I have already 
spoken of as the unfortunate quarrel between England and 
her American colonies, but I think that it may be said 
with truth that the chief cause of it was England's failure 
to recognize the fact that her child had grown up. She 
has learned a lesson from the past, and whatever may be 
the formal constitutional relations between England and 
her grown-up colonies, the real tie between them is that 
of family affection. The value of such a tie is as great in 
public as in private life, and it was never more strongly 
shown than at the present moment, when from all parts of 
the empire England's children are rallying to her side, 
ready to spend their money and their lives in her defence, 
each colony vying with the others as to which can do most 
for the common mother, and best serve their much-loved 
Queen. 

To the very brief sketch which I have attempted to 
give of the constitutional relations between England and 
her colonies, I must add a few words regarding these 
relations between her and India. India is not, and never 
can be a colony, that is, a country occupied to any appre- 
ciable extent by settlers of British descent. Its organiza- 
tion, social and political, is entirely its own, though its 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 79 

government is completely controlled by England. It is 
the greatest of England's ** dependencies," and a most 
perfect illustration of the true meaning of the term. 
Although India is often described as having been con- 
quered, or acquired by the sword, the description is very 
inaccurate. The real source of the acquisition was, as in 
the case of the colonies — the peaceful industry and enter- 
prise of England's own children. The foundation of the 
empire was a curious one — it was due to a rise in the price 
of pepper. The Dutch, who had a monopoly of the 
Eastern trade, raised the price of all spices to such an 
extent that, in 1600, a few merchants of the city of Lon- 
don determined to send out one or two ships of their own. 
Their enterprise was successful ; it was repeated and 
developed into a regular trade. The merchants became 
a chartered company with a monopoly, and established 
depots or factories. Bombay came to England as part of 
the dowry of the Queen of Charles II. Madras was 
founded in 1664, and Calcutta in 1698. The factories 
grew into possessions and their guards into a powerful 
army. Clive made these possessions a power, and War- 
ren Hastings made this power an empire, of which he 
was made governor-general in 1774. It was Pitt's Regu- 
lating Act of that year which first established any real 
constitutional relations between England and India. This 
was done by constituting England a committee of the 
East Indian Company's directors, presided over by a 
cabinet minister, called the " president of the board of 
control," for the management of the " political " affairs of 
the company, by associating with the governor-general 
members of council appointed from home, and by estab- 
lishing at each presidency town, that is, at Calcutta, 
Madras and Bombay, a supreme court whose judges were 
English barristers. This arrangement lasted till i860, 
when the East India Company ceased to exist, and the 
Crown assumed the direct government of India. 



8o Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

But the organization of the new government was 
framed, in the main, on the lines of the old one. In 
England a secretary of state took the place of the old 
" president of the board of control," and his council, vary- 
ing in number from ten to fifteen, and composed of 
persons, official and non-official, of the greatest Indian 
experience, took the place of the old company's commit- 
tee. The secretary of state cannot impose any burden on 
the finances of India without the consent of his council, 
and he is supposed to consult it and be guided by its 
advice in all other matters. But he may, and he not 
infrequently does, act independently of his council, or dis- 
regard its advice, not, I fear, always to the benefit of India. 

In India the governor-general became also viceroy, 
but his powers and those of his executive council, which 
consists of a legal member and a financial member, usually 
sent out from England, and a military member, and two 
civilians selected from the civil and military service in 
India, remained much as before. Each member of coun- 
cil has special charge of some department of the govern- 
ment, and, like a cabinet minister in other countries, 
disposes of all minor matters connected with it. All 
matters of importance are dealt with by the whole council, 
but the viceroy is not bound by a vote of the majority, 
nor would a member who was outvoted think it necessary 
to resign. He would merely record a minute setting 
forth his reasons for dissenting from the policy adopted. 
No doubt the original intention of the framers of this 
constitution was that the opinion of the members of the 
council should be given independently by them as Indian 
experts, that the viceroy should also form an independent 
judgment after giving due weight to this opinion, and 
that the secretary of state in England should only overrule 
the viceroy for very special reasons. I would not imply 
that the members of the council have ceased to give 
independent opinions, and they have most carefully kept 
themselves free from English political parties. But the 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 8 i 

course of events in India and its vicinity, which has made 
many Indian questions English or European questions* 
and more especially the telegraphic connection between 
India and England, has tended to reduce the government 
of India to a more subordinate position, and to make its 
highest officers not men left to act independently with a 
possibility of having their action set aside, but mere 
officials appointed to carry out orders or a policy resolved 
on at home. 

A very erroneous idea prevails about the government 
of India and its officers in matters of internal administra- 
tion. It is very generally supposed that the executive 
government and its officials down even to its district 
officers can issue what orders they please, and that these 
orders have the force of law. Nothing can be further 
from the truth. No doubt this was the state of things 
under the native governments which preceded the British» 
and it continues, with certain reservations, in the native 
states at the present day. But in British India the powers 
of the government and its officers were created solely by 
the written law, and are strictly limited by it. There is 
no royal prerogative by common law, and no inherent 
power in any class or any individual to rule over others. 
The whole population is on a footing of the most perfect 
legal equality, and if any one issues an order to another 
he must show that the power to do so was conferred on 
him by a certain section of a certain act, either of parlia- 
ment or the Indian legislature, and punishment for 
disobedience of the order could only be inflicted by a 
regular court of law, after a proper trial. If the viceroy 
himself were to be personally assaulted by a common 
coolie, the latter would not, as in most Eastern countries, 
be led off to instant execution, he would have to be pros- 
ecuted before a magistrate, and could only, on conviction, 
receive the sentence prescribed by law. 

No doubt in its inception the British Government did 
succeed to the powers of the government it displaced, and 



82 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

its executive orders were regarded as laws. But as soon 
as Pitt's Act of 1774 gave a definite shape to the consti- 
tution of India, the distinction was drawn between mere 
executive orders, and regulations by the governor-general 
in council which were drawn up in the form of statutes 
and were intended to be observed as laws. In 1833 a 
Legislative Council, consisting of the viceroy and his 
executive council, with the addition of other members, 
official and non-official, nominated by him, was created 
and the power of legislation was transferred to it alone. 
Lord Macaulay went out to India as its first legal member 
of council, and the India Penal Code which, though it was 
not formally passed till i860, was drafted by him, would 
even if he had written nothing else, remain forever a 
monument of his genius. The council was enlarged in 
1 86 1, and it has been further enlarged of late years, chiefly 
by the addition of non-official members, a few of whom 
are elected, or rather nominated to the viceroy for ap- 
proval, by bodies such as the Calcutta Chamber of 
Commerce, and members have been given a right of 
interpellation. Some of these changes can hardly be 
regarded as improvements, and they were probably 
adopted merely in order to avoid still more mischievous 
ones. In its proper sphere, that is as a machine for pass- 
ing laws, the council has done admirable work. In 
addition to the Penal Code to which I have referred, it 
has given us most complete codes of Civil and Criminal 
Procedure, and a "Contract Act" and an "Evidence 
Act," which embody the cream of English and American 
law. The ordinary process of legislation in India is this : 
Bills are introduced into council, not to satisfy some 
political cry or " fad," but to meet some real want which 
has been pressed on the notice of the government. On 
their introduction they are not only published in the 
Government Gazette and leading newspapers, English and 
vernacular, but they are also specially sent for opinion to 
those persons, official and non-official, Europeans and 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 83 

natives, who are likely to have any opinion worth giving. 
The opinions received are carefully considered by a select 
committee of the council, who then report the bill to the 
council generally with their recommendations. It is 
then debated in the usual way and passed into law or 
rejected, as the case may be. To attempt to turn this 
body into a parliament or anything resembling a parlia- 
ment, will considerably impair its efficiency as a machine 
for legislation as to any general establishment of parlia- 
mentary institutions in India. I can only repeat what I 
have already said as to the danger of applying theories 
without regard to facts. The natives of India who form 
themselves into congresses and pass resolutions, in no 
sense represent the people of India or express their 
true wants. They merely represent a somewhat 
numerous body of persons who have received an English 
education at government expense, and who, on failing to 
obtain government employment, think that they will at least 
obtain notoriety by going into opposition. Their mode of 
thought and speech, and even of their sedition, when they 
are seditious, is not that of India but of an imitation 
Europe. 

Between the Legislative Council and England the con- 
stitutional relation is that the council has full power to 
legislate on all matters within the limits of British India, 
and the Crown, acting through the secretary of state, 
has merely the power of veto. It was intended that all 
members of the council, official as well as non-official, 
should deal with all matters in a perfectly independent 
spirit, and that the power of veto should only be exercised 
in extreme cases. But, as in executive matters, there has 
been a tendency on the part of the secretary of state to 
encroach on the powers of the government of India. 
Under the cover of the power of the veto, he requires the 
more important measures of government to be submitted 
to him for approval before the bills to give effect to them 
are introduced into the council, and its official members 



84 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

are expected, though not to the same extent as in England, 
to support the bills that may thus be introduced. 

Besides the power of control over the making of laws 
which I have endeavored to explain in the above remarks, 
there exists for all the colonies, self-governing or depend- 
ent, and for India, a very real control over the administra- 
tion of the law, which is exercised by the Judicial Com- 
mittee of the Privy Council. This body is the final court 
of appeal for all parts of the British Dominions outside 
the United Kingdom. Cases come before it from all 
quarters of the globe, and it has to act as the final interpre- 
ter of almost every known system of law, English, Colon- 
ial, Hindu, and Mohammedan, and even the still more in- 
tricate systems of customary or tribal law, by which most of 
the native races are governed. Yet, strange to say, this 
supreme court is not, strictly speaking, a court at all. Its 
jurisdiction arises simply out of the right of every British 
subject, who believes that a wrong has been done him, to 
petition his sovereign personally for redress. Of course 
there are limits imposed by the various legislatures as to 
the nature and value of the cases in which an appeal to 
Her Majesty in council is allowed, but when it is allowed 
it takes the form of a petition to the sovereign, which is 
referred by her to certain select members of her Privy 
Council for consideration. They consider it not as a 
bench of judges sitting in state, but as a small group of 
elderly gentlemen in plain clothes, seated at the end of an 
ofifice table, and the result of their deliberations is recorded, 
not in the form of a decree of a court but merely as " hum- 
ble advice" to Her Majesty to take certain action. It is 
needless to say that Her Majesty always does act on the ad- 
vice given, but the whole procedure is a curious illustra- 
tion of the affection of the EngHsh constitution, for old 
forms long after the substance has completely changed. 

In concluding this brief sketch of the constitutional 
relations between England and her colonial empire, I can- 
not, in the presence of an American audience, refrain from 



Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 85 

giving expression to the thought, which must often occur 
to most Englishmen, what would that empire have been 
if you had continued to form part of it ? In its mere ex- 
ternal form it would have been an empire extending over 
more than 15,000,000 of square miles, and containing in 
addition to nearly 300,000,000 British subjects of other 
races, a population of 131,000,000 of English-speaking 
freemen, and its internal strength would have been greater 
even than its form. I have said that the chief cause of 
our losing you was that England failed to recognize when 
her child was grown up. It may be that the child was so 
strong and vigorous, and his future in life so great, that 
the most judicious treatment would have failed to per- 
manently retain him even in a nominal dependence on 
his mother. If this is so, if we must have parted company 
some day, at any rate we need not have parted in anger. 
But time softens the bitterness of even the most serious 
family quarrels, and I think it may be truly said that in 
ours all sense of bitterness passed away a hundred years 
ago, and that the lesser feelings of jealousy and estrange- 
ment have gone also. Year by year the two great kin- 
dred nations are drawing closer and closer together, they 
are learning to understand one another better, to rejoice 
with each other in prosperity, to sympathize with each 
other in trouble, to recognize the truth of the old saying 
that "blood is thicker than water," and to feel that we are 
not merely friends with interests and feelings in common, 
but are truly members of one family. When we come to 
you we receive even more than a family welcome, and 
when you come to us it is not to see a strange country, 
but to revisit your old home. Many of you, I am glad to 
say, visit Oxford in the course of your tours, and I have 
no doubt that, as you gaze on the old colleges and recall 
their founders and benefactors and the history of the times 
in which they lived, it is a pleasure to you to feel that this 
history is your history, that these men were your ancestors, 
and that you have as good a right to claim admission to 



86 Address of Charles Arthur Roe. 

the colleges as founder's kin as any inhabitant of the- 
British Isles. 

Owing to the lateness of the hour the address of Mr. 
Gerard B. Finch, with which the exercises were to have 
concluded, was, with his consent, transferred to the next 
day's program ; and, at the close of Sir Charles Roe's 
address, the guests of the University repaired to the 
rooms of the University Club to attend a reception by the 
club to Mr. Justice Harlan, Sir Charles Arthur Roe, Mr. 
Gerard B. Finch and Mr, James Barr Ames. 



Proceedings of the Second Day. 



87 



On Thursday, February 22nd, annually celebrated by 
the University of Pennsylvania as " University Day," the 
students of all departments led by the Municipal Band 
marched from the campus to the Academy of Music to 
participate in the exercises of the day. The following 
alumni and class presidents acted as marshals and aids : 

Chief Marshal. 
Judge Edwin A. Jaggard, '82 L. 



Assistant 
Thomas Learning, ' 76 C. 
Ludovic C. Cleeman, ' 59 C. 
Robert Patton Lisle, '62 C. 
Cornelius Stevenson, '63 C. 
Nicholas Henry Thouron, '64 C. 
Sidney W. Keith, '76 C. 
Thomas Robins, ' 77 C. 
Lewis Neilson, '81 C. 
Charles Edward Ingersoll, ' 82 C. 
John Lambert, Jr., '83 C. 
Thomas Lynch Montgomery,' 84 C. 
Hugh Walker 



Marshals. 

William Bowen Boulton, ' 79 C. 

William Heyward Drayton, Jr. ,' 81 C. 

Lewis H. Taylor, '80 M. 

William E. Casselberry, ' 79 M. 

John L. Wentz, ' 82 M. 

Howard Gerald Provost, '84 D. 

Allen J. Smith, ' 86 M. 

Ernest Wende, ' 84 M. 

Cecil Clay, ' 59 C. 

Robert Carmer Hill, '89 C. 

Thomas TurnbuU, Jr., '87 M. 

Ogden, '90 C. 



Aides. 
John Sebastian Conway, '00 C. Samuel Crowther, Jr., '01 C. 

Robert Holmes Page, '02 C. William GilfiUan Gardiner, '03 C. 

John Henry Outland, '00 M. Josiah Calvin McCracken, '01 M. 

Benjamin Franklin Roller, '02 M. Charles Hay Spayd, '03 M. 
Charles Louis McKeehan, '00 L. Walter Coggeshall Janney, '01 L. 
Joseph Robert Wilson, '02 L. Clifton Ernest Lord, '00 D. 

George Eugene Davis, '01 D. William George Hanrahan, '02 D, 

Hulbert Young, '00 V. Charles Louis Colton, '01 V. 

Samuel Burrows, ' 02 V. 



88 Conferring of Honorary Degrees. 

Simultaneously with the arrival of the student body 
at the Academy, at eleven o'clock, the Provost, with the 
orator of the day, the representatives of Universities, and 
the Trustees and Faculties of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania in academic dress, proceeded to the stage. 

The exercises were opened with prayer by the Right 
Reverend Ozi W. Whitaker, after which the audience, led 
by the band, joined in singing "America." 

The degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, was 
then conferred in University Council on the following 
named gentlemen : 

James Barr Ames, Dean of the Faculty of Law 
of Harvard University. 

Gerard Brown Finch, representative of Cam- 
bridge University, England. 

Sir Charles Arthur Roe, representative of Oxford 
University, England. 

John Marshall Harlan, Senior Associate Justice 
of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Oscar Solomon Straus, United States Minister to 
Turkey. 

Wu Ting-Fang, Chinese Minister to the United 
States. 

Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico (represented 
by Senor Manuel de Aspiroz, Mexican Ambassador 
to the United States.) 

The credentials of the representatives of the Univer- 
sities of Oxford and Cambridge were then read by them.* 



* Facsimiles of these credentials appear opposite. 




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Letter of Frederic William Maitland. 89 

The following letter from Frederic William Maitland, LL.D., Downing Pro- 
fessor of the Laws of England in the University of Cambridge, was also read : 

Vea/i St>i ^ 
V^^^iA hZur L&A^J' Sckffs^ in 7ii'i^itiliJiiZ Iki UnCutA^ij ^ 

e; to 4c ut 7£fi^,^^c^'U^s ^U '^'^^ ^^ ^' ^' 

^.^^.. A.J ut ^^^-^ w ^^^ ^^ A////^^/. 



go Letter of Frederic William Maitland. 

C&fMe ^ -i-C^^ laujit And ^ ^^t ^ tctLcki^a 

^ ^e.. ^oje /^/ /" ^^^^ '^h^^ "^^ ^''' 
tU to^^^ Us<f box, tmjit J^jtcm^tc^^J 

jUU out a, a diti.ac.i /«^ / /"■-'*'/ 



yrien. 
etn 



Letter of Frederic William Maitland. 91 

Ay^U hcAsf Jtjj fujttm /Ad: ^a^ jM/eU Ij "^i*^^ 
jUc^ cud Uciiti h ^ejc^d tUi pe,^-^n ftc 

S(en . j^ h. ^Mct/.. /^/ -^ ^// ^ '^^ 
A^- fci^,. to it>st u^ fai'A, t^ ^ /^^ i ^ 
L^ Sckad a^cl y^ kn^ ficU f^i ^^^jf / 
finn {am;- ivUL /{otc'i:,/i, 4^t ^ ^ ^Mo//^hoiz 
■luL'ei /uCts oM. o/Ke/i /^ud/ie, ^ fti eUx^z/AeAc 

J-ct He iVicL l^iM. hk <5i/<a«4 ^ ^ pent 



92 Letter of Frederic William Maitland. 

j^j.'.i U- . 'Seel yiov. ClUff ^d fclu, t/iW i^ 

^UjC^cidC ^AvK ^ Civll'^J^c JlfijM'L ' iin^ ^fneo/rana! 



Address of Charles C. Harrison. 93 

Provost Harrison, introducing the orator of the day, 
His Excellency, Wu TiNG-FANG, Envoy Extraordinary 
and Minister Plenipotentiary from China to the United 
States, then spoke as follows : 

The University of Pennsylvania has now conferred 
its highest honorary degree upon learned and distin- 
guished representatives of many nations, differing in their 
customs, their manners, their arts and modes of life, in 
their jurisprudence and in their religions. Nations in in- 
fancy and in age ; Saxon, Latin, Mongolian and our com- 
posite American ; living under the civil and the common 
law ; accepting the teachings of Confucius and Mencius 
and the Holy Scriptures of Christians. 

The oldest has come to meet with the youngest at 
the University gates — our open doors — with that sympa- 
thy of love of country and love of learning which may 
give expression to mutual respect, and to a prayer for 
peace to men, of good will, upon this University Day of 
ours — the birthday of Washington. 

Upon the men of our own kin, upon those whom Ox- 
ford and Cambridge have sent across the sea — upon those 
ancient universities and all they represent — we have placed 
the red and blue ribbon, our own symbol — in token of a 
fellowship which we believe must last as the three univer- 
sities themselves shall last. If the imperial German unity 
which now exists is the fruit of a unity of German thought, 
created by her university scholars, we, here and in our 
mother country, may have greater motive to greater effort 
in our universities for like concord of educated men. To 
them and their sons and their influence are due all that 
make a nation free — the enfranchisement of the people, 
the promotion of elementary education, the reform of 
prisons, the abohtion of slavery. To England, to Oxford 
and Cambridge, we return to-day our measure full of 
academic and loyal tribute. The millennium of her great 
King Alfred, at the royal city of Winchester, will not be 
forgotten by us of this University. 



94 Address of Charles C. Harrison. 

To the President of the Republic of Mexico, repre- 
sented in the person of his Ambassador, the University 
has given its highest honorary degree for the public ser- 
vice he has rendered during many years to his own coun- 
try, and, in consequence, to the family of nations. Under 
that firm hand, learning has been fostered, public and 
private enterprises encouraged, order maintained where 
disorder ruled ; a nation growing daily in public respect ; 
science and letters and industry pursuing their ways in 
paths of peace, because thought and opinion have been 
released from the fetters of many generations. Younger 
than we in such a national history, Mexico has a past 
whose records refuse to be interpreted, and an ancient 
architecture, the wonder and despair of the present. 

And what shall I say of our own countrymen ? We 
have sought to honor them for the things which they 
have done. The scales of justice have been held with no 
unsteady hand ; luminous and lustrous has been the ad- 
ministration of the law, and patient and calm the confi- 
dence of the people in its wisdom. "Justice is the great 
interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds 
civilized beings and civilized nations together. Wherever 
her temple stands, and so long as it is duly honored, 
there is a foundation for social security, general happi- 
ness and the improvement and progress of our race." 
So Webster said. 

To no less claim of merit has the teacher of its 
science and art his rightful due, than the judicial interpre- 
ter of the law. While we may claim the earliest effort 
and purpose, another university, the senior amidst us all 
in these United States, has the honor of being the first to 
establish a continuing School of Law. And that school 
has had two heads, so renowned for their success in pur- 
pose and administration that England comes to Harvard 
University for guidance in the teaching of the law. That 
school has been the Mecca of students of the law, the 
fruitful mother of bench and bar, imposing new standards 



Address of Charles C Harrison. 95 

upon those for which there were now nor time nor place. 
The elder Dean had been already remembered well by 
his own University after his years of service. The younger 
Dean we have welcomed here to-day, in recognition of 
his undying work — and we trust to welcome him in the 
future, as the two schools shall draw like two magnets, 
with increasing force of merit. 

In proper recognition of the influence so well known 
and so well received at the Ottoman Court, we have been 
glad to-day to welcome, quick upon his return to his native 
shores, the Minister of the United States at Constantino- 
ple. So clear in his office has he been, and so accept- 
able in his ways, that other nations have not hesitated to 
ask for the influence his intellect and personality had won. 
And we, too, but return in tardy fashion a debt of recog- 
nition, for we have never failed a friend at all times dur- 
ing the years of this University's great work between the 
Tigris and the Euphrates. 

Your Excellency, we welcome you not only as the 
orator of the day, but as illustrative of the highest de- 
velopment of Oriental civilization, come in peaceful re- 
lations, through many years, with the influence of the 
best culture which Europe and America may ofler. 

What an apt occasion for comparison and reflection ! 
We call our city venerable, and our University venerable, 
at whose bidding so many have come to-day. It was 
yesterday that we dedicated a noble university building to 
a noble science. It is but as of yesterday that Washing- 
ton here received his honorary degree, and here dedicated 
in its simpler home the teaching of the law by James 
Wilson. A score of years back of the birthday of the 
senior living trustee of this University spans that whole 
bridge of time. But a few years more remote and the 
place where this great city stands was a town site. No 
one lived north or west of the "Old Building" at Fourth 
and Arch streets, whose convenience might be regarded, 
so that the clock to have been established in the frame 



96 Address of Charles C. Harrison. 

tower was to have had but two dials — to south and 
east. 

China has Hved her 4,000 years, patient, pastoral, im- 
mobile ; seeking, hitherto, no answer to the question. Who 
is my neighbor ; wishing, indeed, until now, not to be 
asked that question. The United States, restless, inquisi- 
tive, impatient, progressive, achieving results in a century 
at which the observer marvels, but of which ourselves 
take not the time to think, seeks admission to the Celes- 
tial Kingdom, and 

" Upon the very border stand 
Of that fair promised land." 

We know that our rigorous laws, severely interpreted, 
give us slight cause for favor or friendship. But we have 
asked you to address us, at this University, with the hope 
of instruction as to ways in which these two nations may 
come into contact and not to conflict. 

When the best brain of this country is governed by 
the enlightenment of the universities, reform, conserva- 
tive and yet progressive, is inevitable. And a public sen- 
timent may be created by the universities even more en- 
lightened, because more courageous than their own. 

For your learning, and for your public and national 
services, we have clothed you, then, with our highest aca- 
demic honors and with symbolic colors — the red and the 
blue — under which our University strives to realize the 
highest purposes. We feel that, loyal to your native 
land, you will, henceforth, be a worthy son of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

And so we greet you to-day with the prayer that the 
colors of our own country, the red and the blue and the 
white, may typify in the first two the pohcies of justice 
and enlightenment, and in the last 

" The white flower of a blameless life," 

in all our national measures. 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. 97 

His Excellency, the Chinese Minister, spoke on "The 
Proper Relations of the United States to the Orient," as 
follows : 

Two years ago to-day the President of the United 
States delivered the oration before you, and last year one 
of the most prominent and learned scholars, the Hon. 
Seth Low, was your orator. To succeed these eminent 
men in this distinguished role is indeed a great honor ; 
but when it is considered that this is the first time the 
privilege of addressing you on Washington's birthday has 
been accorded to a foreigner, you will understand how 
proud and grateful I feel on this occasion. I am inclined 
to take this high compliment not as a recognition of any 
individual merit I may possess, but as a striking example 
of the friendly feeling shown to the country which I have 
the honor to represent. To the spirit of expansion also, 
unless I am mistaken, which pervades the whole country, 
I attribute this departure from the usual custom ; and as 
the United States has extended its territory to the Far 
East, it is but natural that a great and leading University 
like this should catch the contagion, and invite the repre- 
sentative of a neighboring country to undertake this 
pleasant and honorable task. The custom of observing 
Washington's birthday by this University as " University 
Day" is a praiseworthy one. For the last two thousand 
years, the birthday of Confucius, the great sage of China, 
has been every year observed in all the colleges of 
China ; and as your nation is young and your people are 
patriotic, it is fitting that you should follow the example 
of an older nation by keeping green the memory of " The 
Father of His Country." It is particularly fitting for the 
University of Pennsylvania, in whose city Washington 
established the Federal government and became the first 
president of the nation, to commemorate every year his 
birthday. 

The observance of the anniversary serves to recall to 
the mind of the people the noble character of the hero, to 



98 Address of Wu Ting-fang. 

hold up his Hfe as an inspiration to the nation, and to in- 
fuse the whole country with the spirit of patriotism. 

The name of George Washington is by no means 
unknown in China. To every student of modern history 
his life and achievements are familiar. To be able to 
combine thirteen small states into a harmonious union for 
the purpose of carrying on a long and costly war with a 
powerful country, to establish a stable government, and 
to found a new nation on a firm basis, — all this excites 
the admiration of my countrymen who have read the 
history of the United States. He was not only a great 
soldier but a great statesman also, for he laid down the 
sound principles of government which might serve as 
guides for other nations as well as for this republic. It 
may seem at first sight, paradoxical to say that we Chi- 
nese hold Washington in higher estimation for what he 
did not do, than for what he actually did, for his country. 
History has given us innumerable examples of great 
warriors, eminent statesmen, devoted patriots whom we 
regard with wonder and respect. Such are Caesar, Crom- 
well, Napoleon, and many others that may be named. 
But where can we find another instance of entire subor- 
dination of personal ambition to the public welfare ? The 
love of power which is innate to every man seems in his 
case to have been controlled by a higher sense of public 
duty. We know that he carried the war of American 
independence to a successful issue, accepted the unani- 
mous call of a grateful nation to be its chief magistrate, 
and after holding that high position just long enough to 
put the Ship of State in a proper and good condition, he 
voluntarily stepped down from the pinnacle of power 
without the least regret. He might have taken a differ- 
ent course. He might have remained in power to the 
end of his days. The very fact that he was master of his 
ambition, and not its slave, stamps him as a truly great 
man. The only historical characters I can think of who 
resemble Washington in this respect are Yao and Shun. 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. 99 

These two great monarchs reigned in China from B. C. 2357 
to 2206, and during their respective reigns the people en- 
joyed perfect peace and prosperity. The virtues and ben- 
evolent sway of these two celebrated rulers have been held 
to this day in China as models for succeeding occupants 
of the throne, as immortalizing the following proverb : 
"Yao's benevolence was as universal as heaven, and 
Shun's virtue, as resplendent as the sun." It was the 
golden age of China ; and after the lapse of four thousand 
years their memory is still held in great veneration by 
their grateful countrymen. The noble character of these 
two sovereigns, as was the case with Washington, was 
conspicuous by a zealous devotion to the welfare of their 
people, and by a sacrifice of their self-interest and ambi- 
tion. Each left his throne, not to his sons but to the 
worthiest ; or in other words, the choice of the people. 
The principle of selection thus established was only re- 
vived by Washington, and has since been followed in 
this country. 

Though it is not more than 125 years ago when Wash- 
ington founded this young republic with thirteen states, 
she has since so enlarged her boundaries that the country 
is now composed of forty-five states and half-a-dozen 
territories. Through the logical course of recent events, 
she has acquired territory far beyond this continent, and 
become practically a neighbor of China. It gives me the 
greatest pleasure to say that the relations between the two 
countries are the most friendly and cordial ; and I venture 
to express with confidence the hope that the fact of the 
United States' acquiring the Philippines will not only not 
disturb those amicable relations, but will have the effect 
of yet cementing them more friendly and closely. With 
such intelligent people as those of the United States, 
whose policy as voiced the other day by the Postmaster- 
General in his speech in New York, is not territorial ex- 
pansion, but only the expansion of trade and commerce, 
the relations of this country with China, and indeed with 

iLofC. 



loo Address of Wu Ting-fang. 

all the other nations in Asia, cannot be otherwise than 
cordial. This being the case, it is naturally expected that 
I should express my views as to how the best relations 
can be maintained. I do this willingly, feeling sure that 
what I shall say will be received in the same friendly 
spirit in which it is given. The first advice I would 
venture to offer is the importance of a clear understand- 
ing of the situation. Whether in diplomatic or com- 
mercial business, it is equally essential. It should always 
be borne in mind that the customs, manners, language, 
mode of education and way of thinking in Asia, are not 
similar to those in the West : consequently the Orien- 
tals think and act in ways entirely different from their 
brethren in the West under similar circumstances. To 
judge the action of an Asiatic by an American or Euro- 
pean standard is a grievous mistake. I have seen costly 
litigations carried on for months in law courts between 
Chinese and Europeans simply through misunderstand- 
ing. I have seen bloody wars arise from the same cause. 
Each nation in those cases felt that it had been insulted, and 
considered the incident a casus belli. If the points of dif- 
ference had been properly explained, and if what each 
nation imagined to be an insult could have been clear that 
no such thing was intended, the matters in dispute could 
have been amicably arranged, and no war would have 
ensued. But each nation was stubborn and tenacious in 
its own opinion, each judging the other from its own 
standpoint. One of the first requisites towards main- 
taining proper relations with the Orientals, therefore, is to 
understand their ideas, and to judge them not by your 
standard, but by theirs. This is as much applicable to 
commercial and social intercourse as to diplomatic and 
international affairs. Let me give a common illustration. 
In China when a gentleman meets another for the first 
time, it is usual for both to ask each other's age, and other 
personal questions. It would be a mistake to regard 
such conduct as rude and insulting, as would be the 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. ioi 

case in this country. The asking of such questions 
shows the interest of the questioner in his new acquain- 
tance, and is done with the best of intentions ; therefore, it 
should be considered no more an insult than an inquiry 
after one's health. A perfectly innocent action can be 
easily misinterpreted to be a wrongful act. To do justice 
to an Oriental, you should not judge his action by what 
you would naturally think of it, but ascertain his motive 
for the act, and judge him by his own standard. This 
rule cannot be too often emphasized in your intercourse 
with the people in the Far East, as by its observance 
many disagreeable contretemps and misunderstandings 
may be avoided. 

I must acknowledge that your diplomatic and con- 
sular officers in China have thus far acquitted themselves 
well, considering the disadvantageous position in which 
they are placed. Most of the European Governments 
send young men to the East to learn the language and 
study the customs of the country. After a residence of 
two or three years, when they prove themselves pro- 
ficient, after passing a strict examination, they are then 
placed in responsible positions as student interpreters, 
consular assistants, etc. Merit is rewarded by promo- 
tion. Thus those governments have competent men 
specially fitted for service in the Orient. It may not be 
unwise for your government to adopt a similar system. 
It gives me much pleasure to hear that this University, 
ever foremost in all educational movements, has an- 
nounced a plan for a special school of commercial and 
diplomatic training, intended to qualify students for 
business employment or public service in the East, This 
is a step in the right direction. I trust that in the near 
future all Americans who go to the East, especially to 
my country, whether in commercial pursuits, or in diplo- 
matic or consular service, will have had training in that 
school, or any other school of a similar standing. While 
upon this topic, I may be permitted to make a suggestion 



102 Address of Wu Ting-fang. 

on a kindred subject. I think that if a Chair of the 
Chinese Language and Literature should be estabHshed, 
it would prove very useful, not only in teaching the Chi- 
nese language to those students wishing to learn, but it 
might be the means of diffusing information on all matters 
relating to China. I have heard that both the Univer- 
sities of Yale and Harvard had such a professorship in 
Chinese some years ago, but as there were very few stu- 
dents, the vacancy in each case was not filled after the 
death of the first holder. But the times have changed. 
In view of your rapidly increasing commerce and trade 
with China, and in view of your important political posi- 
tion there, the question is whether it is not worth your 
while to found a Chair of the Chinese Language and 
Literature in this University, I throw out the suggestion 
for the consideration of the Provost and officers of this 
great institution. 

Constant intercourse between the East and the West 
of necessity requires a common medium of communica- 
tion. The story of Babel has a moral to it. It was the 
confusion of tongues that scattered the people of the 
earth toward the four winds. Reverse the process, and 
you will bring the nations of the world together. In the 
days of the Cohungs, when the millions of the people of 
the Chinese Empire were brought into contact with the 
outer world only at a few points, and when buying and 
selling furnished the only opportunity for an interchange 
of ideas, it was found imperative that some means should 
be devised for making the wants of each side known to 
the other. Thus the jargon known as " pigeon English" 
(that is, business English) came into extensive use. This 
is " neither fish, flesh nor fowl," as far as extending 
among languages goes. But it has served a useful pur- 
pose, in that it has enabled the Chinese and the foreigner 
to understand each other sufficiently to do such business 
as has brought them together for the last fifty years. 
The expansion of commerce at the present day, however,, 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. 103 

demands a better and more accurate vehicle of expression. 
Transactions involving thousands of dollars cannot be 
left to conjecture, but the rights and obligations of the 
parties must be defined in terms that convey a clear and 
well-understood meaning. In all the ports and important 
centres of the East the English language seems to hold a 
position in the school and in the counting-house such as 
no other language can claim. It is spoken in the streets 
of Shanghai as well as in those of Hong Kong. It is 
taught in the schools of Yokohama as well as those of 
Singapore. Chinese, Japanese, Germans, Russians and 
Frenchmen alike make use of it in their business offices, 
in their clubs, and in their family circles. In short, it may 
be called the commercial language of the Orient. Signs 
are not wanting that point to its ultimate adoption as an 
international language. It must not be understood that 
I am particularly partial to the English language. I only 
wish to see some language selected by common consent 
as an international language to be used when people of 
different tongues have dealings with each other. This 
would save a great deal of time and trouble. Life is 
short at best, and the time that is devoted to the study 
of modern languages nowadays might, with greater 
profit, be employed in the acquisition of some useful 
branches of knowledge. In order to fill the requirements 
of an international language, it seems to me that the 
English language, if adopted as such from its general use, 
might be first modified and improved in a great many 
ways. Foreigners, for instance, are unanimous in con- 
demning the atrocious manner in which words are spelled 
in English. I need not point out to you how many words 
a single sound sometimes represents. This is a matter of 
your daily experience and must come home to you often- 
times with great force. I venture to suggest that if you 
were to lop ofT all the excrescences from your words, such 
as the " ue " in " catalogue," and adopt the phonetic spell- 
ing altogether, you would spare many an unfortunate 



I04 Address of Wu Ting-fang. 

foreigner the trials and tribulations he has to face at every 
step. In these days of electricity and steam, men of business 
cannot find time to master all the intricacies of a foreign 
language. The case is different, of course, with scholars 
who devote their lives to study and meditation. In order 
to meet the demands of the times, a language must be so 
simplified that foreigners can, without too much expen- 
diture of time and labor, acquire it for all practical 
purposes, before it can secure universal adoption. If, 
therefore, English is to maintain the ground it has gained 
in the Orient, it must be modified and improved on the 
lines I have indicated. As the American people generally 
take the lead in every movement of progress and reform, 
I hope this question of improving the English language 
will not be neglected. Indeed, I regard it as a hopeful 
sign that in writing the word " programme," the useless 
"me" are frequently left out, and the letter "f " is sub- 
stituted for " ph " in *' photography." A congress of 
university professors and school teachers should, 1 ven- 
ture to suggest, be convened to take up this question, so 
that a simple and uniform system of spelling and com- 
munication may be adopted. 

The opening of the magnificent building for the Law 
Department, which took place yesterday, is an important 
event in the history of this University ; and I am glad 
that I was able to be present at the ceremonies. I take 
a peculiar interest in this department. Recognizing the 
value of a knowledge of common law and international 
law, I went to England to pursue my legal studies ; and 
I had the satisfaction of being the first Chinese who be- 
came a member of the legal profession in the western 
world. When I see, therefore, the splendid edifice within 
whose walls the students are to pore over their Blackstone, 
Kent, Wheaton, and other authorities, I am forcibly re- 
minded of my student days in a similar institution in Lon- 
don. China has adopted the law of collision at sea which 
is in force in the western world. International law is 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. 105 

much studied in China, and most of the standard works 
on that subject have been translated into Chinese. Whea- 
ton and Woolsey are used as text-books, and are fre- 
quently cited as authorities in solving difficult questions. 
International law is founded on the principles of justice, 
and every nation should, as far as possible, conform to it; 
but if it should be more honored in the breach than the 
observance, then its study, I fear, would be soon neglected 
by students. I trust, however, that day will never come, 
at least in our generation. 

The sudden possessions of new and vast territories in 
the East, with a population of ten million, composed of 
thirty different races, speaking as many languages, pre- 
sents problems of a most serious character for solution, 
and naturally taxes to the utmost all the ingenuity which 
even statesmen of a high order possess. Hitherto your 
attention has been confined to this continent, and the 
government of so large an alien population in another 
part of the world is a new experiment. No wonder vari- 
ous schemes for their government are proposed ; and the 
delay in coming to a decision indicates your cautiousness 
and unwillingness to commit a blunder. With the intel- 
ligence and common sense of the American people, I have 
no doubt a right conclusion will be arrived at. The policy 
of a wise statesman would be not to enact laws for the 
newly acquired possessions, without thoroughly studying 
the local requirements and peculiar circumstances, or to 
extend the laws of the mother country which might be 
unsuited to the condition of the new territories. No un- 
necessary change in the existing laws and customs should 
be made. No encouragement whatever should be given 
to the ill feeling of one race or class against another ; no 
step should be taken to please or conciliate one class in 
the community at the expense or to the detriment of 
another class ; no race or class legislation should be toler- 
ated. The policy of the new ruling power should be 
strictly impartial, fair and just ; no interference with long 



io6 Address of Wu Ting- fang. 

standing customs should be allowed unless they are cruel 
or injurious to good morals. Education is a great re- 
former, and if free schools are established, similar to the 
excellent public schools in this country, great results may 
be expected. This republic is young, and this is the first 
time she has acquired colonies 10,000 miles away. The 
experience is novel to her. Theories, however excellent, 
are not safe guides, especially in matters of legislation 
and government with respect to an alien race, and if 
errors should be committed, the consequences might be 
very serious. It is no disgrace to turn for some lessons 
to those powers which have had experience in the ad- 
ministration of colonies. England and France have 
acquired possessions in Asia, the former possessing terri- 
tories which are not far from the Philippines, and having 
had to solve problems similar to those with which you are 
confronted. If a commission should be sent to those 
colonies to investigate the systems of government in 
actual operation, to study the experiments which have 
proved successful, and to find out what legislative enact- 
ments have been found suitable to the Asiatic people, 
this government would be able to learn some useful les- 
sons and at least to avoid making mistakes which might 
afterwards be regretted and difficult to correct. The 
United States has now become an important factor in the 
Far East, not only on account of her newly acquired 
possessions there but also on account of her steadily 
increasing commerce with the nations in Asia. It be- 
hooves her to adopt a line of policy commensurate with 
the importance of the situation. Last December I 
attended one of the numerous exercises in commemora- 
tion of the death of Washington. The orator strongly 
advised the audience to read Washington's farewell ad- 
dress, remarking that he thought that not ten per cent of 
that audience had ever seen that document. I took the 
hint, and upon my return from that meeting availed 
myself of the first opportunity to peruse the address. It 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. 107 

was indeed full of good advice. What struck me most 
was the foresight and transcendent wisdom exhibited in 
every line of that address. For a foreign policy what can 
be grander than these words : " Observe good faith and 
justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony 
with all." This should be written in letters of gold, and 
serve as a guide to every nation in the world. It corre- 
sponds in effect to what Confucius inculcated when he 
said : " Let your words be sincere and truthful and your 
policy honorable and just." This good counsel of 
Washington has been a potent factor in shaping the 
policy of this country, and warding off foreign encroach- 
ments. When it became universally known that the 
policy of this young republic, as foreshadowed by its 
founder, was that of keeping good faith and cultivating 
peace and harmony with all nations, a favorable impres- 
sion was naturally created far and wide. All nations 
perceived that this country was pursuing a just policy, 
and did not dare to give the American people any cause 
of offence. And twenty-seven years afterwards, when 
President Monroe issued his caveat against foreign 
aggressions on the American continents, it was tacitly 
acquiesced in by all foreign powers. Why ? Because it 
was founded on principles of justice and self-protection. 
It was not entirely a new doctrine, but a liberal interpreta- 
tion of the sound principles laid down by Washington. 
So to secure the recognition of the "open door" in China 
by the great powers, which has recently been brought 
about by your government through the able Secretary of 
State, is not a departure from, but a continuation of, your 
traditional policy. 

The question now arises whether it is not time for 
this country to extend the Monroe Doctrine to Asia. The 
Philippine Islands are situated on the outskirts of Asia, 
and may be said to be at the very door of that continent. 
If it was necessary for President Monroe to declare any 
attempt to encroach upon any portion of the American 



io8 Address of Wu Ting-fang. 

continents, extending over six thousand miles from Alaska 
to Patagonia, as dangerous to your peace and safety, 
what shall you say to this when you find that the main- 
land of Asia is not more than six hundred miles distant 
from the Philippines? If it was thought proper not to 
allow Puerto Rico, or any of the islands on this side of the 
Atlantic, to pass into the possession of any foreign power, 
would it be advisable to look with indifference on any en- 
croachments on the mainland of Asia, especially the east- 
ern portion, which is nearer to Manila than Puerto Rico 
to Florida? I do not apprehend any encroachment will 
take place. But the Monroe Doctrine, being the fixed 
policy of your government, the natural logic is that it 
should be applied to that part of the world where this 
country has possessions. This policy is by no means a 
selfish one, but, as I have already remarked, is founded on 
justice and self-protection ; and if persistently carried out 
it will tend greatly to the preservation of peace wherever 
it is enforced. 

I am far from making light of the services of the army 
and navy of this country, whose bravery has recently ex- 
cited the admiration of the world, and whose deeds have 
won undying fame. It must, however, be admitted that 
skill in warfare and bravery in action may conquer terri- 
tory ; but to govern newly acquired dominion peacefully, 
and win the hearts of a people belonging to a different 
race, calls for the administrative ability and sagacity of a 
statesman. The pen is mightier than the sword. The 
dictum of Mencius, one of our ancient sages, is still true 
when he says, " A king can conquer the world by brute 
force, but he cannot keep it without justice and righteous- 
ness." In this country there is no lack of able men who 
can steer the Ship of State in a straight and undeviating 
course, keeping clear of shoals and rocks. Even in this 
hall I see around me men who have become famous in the 
different professions to which they belong ; men high in 
office, who impartially administer the law and who scrupu- 



Address of Wu Ting-fang. 109 

lously protect the interests of the people. The affairs of 
the nation are safe in such excellent hands. In this vast 
audience there are many undergraduates who are now 
enjoying the privilege of preparing themselves in this 
great seat of learning for the noble but arduous work 
which they will before long be called upon to perform for 
their country at home or abroad. Whatever positions 
they may be required to fill, no doubt they will discharge 
their duties faithfully, and with credit to themselves and 
with honor to their country. Happy is America, that can 
boast of so many sons who are growing up to take part 
in the affairs of the nation. In the hands of men who 
have received training in this noble institution, where 
grand truths and sound principles of government are 
taught, this young but great nation will certainly con- 
tinue to prosper, and the Star-Spangled Banner will be 
not only the symbol of liberty and freedom, but also the 
emblem of justice and righteousness. 

The "University Day" exercises closed with the sing- 
ing of the University hymn " Hail Pennsylvania." 

Words by Edgar M. Dilley, '97 College, 

Hail ! Pennsylvania, Majesty as a crown, 

Noble and strong! Rests on thy brow; 

To thee with loyal hearts Pride, Honor, Glory, Love, 

We raise our song. Before thee bow. 

Swelling to Heaven, loud Ne'er can thy spirit die. 

Our praises ring: Thy walls decay : 

Hail ! Pennsylvania, Hail ! Pennsylvania, 

Of thee we sing! For thee we pray ! 

Hail ! Pennsylvania, 

Guide of our youth ! 
Lead thou thy children on 

To light and truth; 
Thee, when death summons us. 

Others shall praise : 
Hail ! Pennsylvania, 
Through endless days ! 



I lo Dedication of Price Hall. 

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania held a recep- 
tion at the close of the exercises at the Academy, which 
was largely attended by guests of the University. 

After luncheon had been served the guests were con- 
ducted through the handsome rooms of the Society, and 
viewed the rare paintings and manuscripts collected dur- 
ing the past three-quarters of a century. 

The afternoon of Thursday was devoted to an in- 
spection of the University grounds and buildings, the 
Deans of the various faculties receiving and conducting 
the visitors through their respective departments. At 
four o'clock the Pennsylvania Debating Union held a re- 
ception in the Law School Building, music by the Glee, 
Mandolin and Banjo clubs of the University adding to 
the enjoyment of the occasion. 

The reception over, the guests assembled for the 
dedication of Price Hall, in the new law building, as the 
permanent home of the Pennsylvania Debating Union. 

The orator of the occasion, HAMPTON L. Carson, 
LL. D., of the Philadelphia bar, was introduced by 
Provost Harrison, who spoke as follows : 

Ladies ajid Gentlemen: It is a matter of peculiar per- 
sonal pleasure to me to be present this afternoon at the 
dedication of Price Hall. 

When I was quite a young man I entered the ser- 
vices of the University as a trustee, and I found that body 
full of eminent men — men without whom the history of 
Philadelphia could not be written. Of that number at 
that time was Mr. Eli K. Price, even then venerable in 
years. I have known both himself, Mr. Eli K. Price, and 
his son, Mr. John Sergeant Price, for many years. Both 
of them were full of public service and service to the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. Mr. Hampton L. Carson, of this 
city, has been friendly to the family and has naturally 
been called upon to deliver the address of dedication at 
this time, not only in dedication of the Hall itself to the 
memory of the father and his son, but also in memory of 



Address of Hampton L. Carson. hi 

the founder's children, which is the memorial on the part 
of the children to the services of their ancestor. I have 
the very great pleasure in introducing to you Mr. Hamp- 
ton L. Carson, the orator of the afternoon. 

Mr. Carson's Address. 

Mr. Provost, Ladies and Gentleinejt: This hall is dedi- 
cated to the memory of Eli Kirk Price, a Trustee of the 
University of Pennsylvania from 1869 to 1884, and of his 
son, John Sergeant Price, president of the Central Com- 
mittee of the Alumni of the University from 1882 to 1897, 
and president of the Society of the Alumni of the Law 
Department from 1890 to 1897. 

As I look forth from this rostrum, the forms and faces 
of those estimable men appear to my mental vision as 
distinctly as though they were present in the flesh. Be- 
hold ! One of them a tall, spare, venerable man, of more 
than eighty years of age, with clear penetrating eyes be- 
neath shaggy eyebrows, and with a high forehead 
crowned with locks which swept his shoulders and as 
white as the driven snow ; the other, a sturdy, thick-set 
man of but little more than middle age, with a winning 
smile, a rich, deep voice, and a heartiness of manner 
which warmed you to the core. They were my friends ; 
they were the friends of my father, and the duty which I 
discharge this afternoon is a labor of love. They were 
men of note in their day and generation ; men of ability, 
of influence, of usefulness, of character, of integrity and 
renown. While alive, they were respected by all who 
knew them, and the memory of their sterling worth is 
cherished by many friends. They were simple, unobtru- 
sive, modest men ; they led clean, wholesome and honor- 
able lives. They toiled incessantly for the public good, but 
sought none of the rewards of ofBce. They were lawyers 
of unusual attainments, who lived up to the best tradi- 
tions of the profession, who never soiled their palms, or 
dimmed the record of an honorable calling by a single act 



112 Address of Hampton L. Carson. 

which would bring scarlet to the cheek of the most sensi- 
tive. To profound professional knowledge they added 
an extensive acquaintance with philosophy and science. 
The elder man was remarkable for the breadth and depth 
of his insight into all matters affecting our civic welfare ; 
while the younger one devoted himself unselfishly to the 
promotion of numerous public charities. Their descend- 
ants are worthy of their ancestry, and it is to their munifi- 
cence that we owe this beautiful hall, which is henceforth 
to be the permanent home of the Pennsylvania Debating 
Union. 

Mr. Eli K. Price was born, two years before the 
death of General Washington, in the neighborhood of the 
battle-ground of Brandywine, and his boyish eyes fre- 
quently looked upon scenes which have become classic 
in our Revolutionary annals. He was a sturdy youth, 
of Welsh, Irish and German descent ; his German ances- 
tors coming from the Palatinate of the Rhine. At twelve 
years of age he was so hardened by the labors of the 
farm that he was able to reap with a sickle his day's 
work of twelve sheaves, but he became impatient of the 
narrow horizon which hemmed him in, and, to use his 
own language, he escaped from the farm to enter the 
counting-room. He was employed by the well-known 
commercial house of Thomas P. Cope, then engaged in 
foreign trade, whose packets were the largest ships at 
that time afloat, and one of them I believe exists to-day, 
engaged in the petroleum trade. From thirteen to at 
least nineteen years of age he devoted himself to the 
study of commercial interests, and occasionally would 
look into books on commercial law and the law of ship- 
ping. His attention, however, became diverted little by 
little from purely mercantile pursuits, until he found him- 
self attracted to the office of a great lawyer, to whose 
memory he felt that he could pay no more honest tribute 
of heartfelt respect than to name after his preceptor his 
own son, John Sergeant. Mr. Seargent was at that time 



Address of Hampton L, Carson. 113 

associated, so far as public estimation was concerned, on 
fair and equal terms with Horace Binney. In fact, any 
one whose mind travels back to the great names in that 
generation which reflect lustre upon the Philadelphia bar 
would naturally say " Sergeant and Binney." When Mr. 
Sergeant went to Congress, Mr. Price was a rising lawyer, 
who, having had the advantages of personal instruction 
in Mr. Sergeant's office, familiarity with his methods, 
acquaintance with his clients, and ample knowledge of the 
details of current litigation, took the whole burden on his 
young shoulders of conducting successfully, until his dis- 
tinguished leader's return, a vast and varied practice. 
These matters occur to me with much of personal interest, 
for it was my good fortune to read law in the very office, 
so far as the building was concerned, of the great John 
Sergeant. The book-cases were still there which had 
held volumes once conned by Mr. Price, the portraits 
which hung on the wall recalled the memories of great 
men and pure citizens, and I often thought of the influ- 
ences under which Mr. Price laid the foundation of his 
professional usefulness and renown. But it was not alto- 
gether in the field of commercial law, which was Mr. 
Sergeant's leading line of business, that Mr. Price was 
destined to succeed. His attention was soon directed to 
the more difBcult branch of real estate, and it is no dis- 
credit to any of his predecessors or successors to say that 
he became in the fullness of time the ablest real estate 
lawyer that the bar of Philadelphia ever produced. In 
fact, Mr. Price's signature to a brief of title was far more 
highly thought of than the "policies issued by the great 
real estate title insurance companies. Mr. Price's single 
brain carried, stored within its cells, all the extraordinary, 
accumulated, and detailed learning which is now a part 
of the corporate plant of every title company in the city. 
If ever there was a man who knew accurately the history 
of titles from the time of Penn to the present day, who 
could run out all the ramifications, whether by deed, by 



114 Address of Hampton L. Carson. 

descent, or by special devise, together with all the nice 
distinctions arising from subtle interpretations of the 
courts, it was Mr. Price, whose advice, sought upon all 
occasions, and whose judgment, relied upon by all clients, 
was frequently appealed to in settlement of matters as 
arbitrator, where his individual sagacity was preferred by 
business men to the chances of litigation in the courts. 
No wonder, then, that by the time he had reached the 
age of fifty-three years he stood, without rising on his toe 
tips, with head and shoulders in line with the tallest men 
in the foremost ranks of the profession. A demand 
was then made upon him for a public service which 
this generation and generations yet unborn will learn 
to value as one of the most remarkable obligations 
on the part of posterity to a purely professional man that 
it has been the duty of professional annalists to record. 
Reluctantly — he says it himself — he yielded to a call 
by his fellow-citizens to allow his name to be used as a 
candidate for the State Senate in the year 1851. The 
condition of affairs prevailing in the city of Philadelphia 
at the time was peculiar. It is not now recalled except 
by the memory of a venerable man, now nearly one hun- 
dred years of age, who still lingers on the scene, who was 
cherished as a colaborer in the Senate, a partner in many 
struggles entered into for the public good — I mean the 
venerable Frederick Fraley, a man, who, with Mr. Price, 
headed the poll on an independent ticket, for the purpose 
of emancipating the city of Philadelphia from the chains 
which bound her. It is a curious chapter in our munici- 
pal history. Philadelphia proper was then but two miles 
square, consisting of twelve hundred and eighty acres of 
ground, extended from South to Vine streets, and from 
the river Delaware to the Schuylkill. Outside of this 
there were nine distinct districts, such as Spring Garden, 
Kensington, the Northern Liberties, Southwark and Rox- 
borough. There were also thirteen distinct boroughs and 
four townships, and each of them was under a separate 



Address of Hampton L. Carson. i i 5 

form of government. The county was split into numer- 
ous fragments, each boasting of its sovereignty. There 
were frequent riots and bloodshed in the streets, citizens 
were massacred because of hatred of men of color or re- 
ligious antipathies, while conflagrations were kindled by 
contending factions of firemen for the entertainment of 
visiting strangers. Philadelphia holidays were graced by 
free fights in the streets, by the burning of churches, 
or the riots of 1844 ; the scenes were reenacted of the Via 
Appia in the old days of Rome, when the faction of Milo 
contended with that of Claudius, and when criminals who 
had violated the laws and ordinances of the city of Phila- 
delphia found immunity in escaping over an imaginary 
line on the north side of Vine street. The mighty 
energies of the municipality were paralyzed ; her enter- 
prises were dwarfed, and became pinched for want of 
sustenance and air. Philadelphia, which had been the 
leading city of the continent, the federal capital in the 
days of the Revolution, the metropolis of the Washington 
and Adams administrations, pined and shrank until it be- 
came the fourth city in the Union. Clear-sighted men 
foresaw that a public service could be rendered to this 
great county similar in character to that performed by the 
Federal Convention, when out of thirteen separate sover- 
eignties there was organized and evolved a national gov- 
ernment for the boundless territory of the Republic. Mr. 
Price was tall enough " to see the tops of distant thoughts 
which men of common stature never saw," and looking 
far into the future he saw the skies brightening with the 
glow of promise. At the sacrifice of his own individual 
convenience, at the loss of great professional emolument, 
at the earnest solicitation of a non-partisan representation 
of the citizens, he consented to an election to the State 
Senate. No words of mine can add force to those which 
Horace Binney used in a letter written to his own son, 
when he heard that Mr. Price's candidacy was spoken of, 
or can exceed them in fitness of eulogy. 



ii6 Address of Hampton L. Carson. 

" I should think your battle would be half won if you 
could place Eli K. Price's name, with his consent, at the 
head of your list. His name is a pledge already given, 
and not likely to be forfeited, for qualities specially neces- 
sary at such a time and on such an occasion : experience 
in civil affairs, general knowledge, talents, integrity, moral 
courage, constancy and conscientiousness. He has more- 
over, great practicahiess and facility that enable him to 
impress other minds with his own convictions." 

Needless to say *he ticket was successful, and the 
Consolidation Act of 1854, the second great charter of our 
city, the precursor of the Bullitt Bill, was passed largely 
through his efforts ; and what was the effect? The great 
territories which stretched out on every side, consisting 
of vacant fields and dilapidated buildings, suddenly, as 
though from a stroke of the enchanter's wand, sprang up 
into a great, thriving, beautiful and evergrowing metrop- 
olis. The city of Philadelphia became the jeweled bride 
of the Commonwealth. Many years afterwards, looking 
beyond the scene of his achievements, and peering, as old 
men gifted with a touch of prophecy sometimes do, far 
into the future, Mr. Price predicted, as I believe no other 
man has yet done, that the day is not distant when Mont- 
gomery and Chester and Delaware counties will knock at 
the doors of Philadelphia, and pray that all the prosperous 
boroughs and thriving townships which lie between here 
and Downingtown, and from Chester to Bristol, should be 
embraced under one charter of municipal government, 
which will cause the life-blood of a great community to 
pulsate through widely articulated veins. 

A great statesman was this quiet Quaker lawyer. A 
great public benefactor, most modest man that he was. 
Then, taking his pen, and giving to the public, without 
fee or hope of reward, not even covetous of the benedic- 
tions which now rise to the lips of generations which call 
him " blessed," he sat down and penned that great statute 
for the unfettering of ouir titles, known as the Price Act, 



Address of Hampton L. Carson. 117 

which has stricken off the fetters which shackled our real 
estate, and which, in the language of one of our great 
jurists, has introduced more in the way of practical reform 
into the law than anything that has occurred since the 
days of the great case of Taltarum. 

It was my privilege to be present at a dinner given by 
the Bar of Philadelphia when Chief Justice Sharswood 
retired from the bench, and laid aside the ermine which 
he had worn so spotlessly and without reproach for many 
years. Seated on his right — I can see him now — with 
eager, earnest, benignant face, was Mr. Price, who gazed 
at the magistrate who had put into the lasting form of 
judicial expression the principles which he himself had 
formulated in the office or had stated at the Bar, and the 
Chief Justice, turning to the venerable leader, said, " Mr. 
Price was not what in England would have been called a 
conveyancer, but he is fit to rank with the great names of 
Booth, of Fearne, of Preston and of Hargrave." On the 
opposite side of the table sat the most renowned of Eng- 
lish barristers, then visiting this country, Mr. Sergeant 
Ballentyne, a man who went all the way to India to defend 
the Gukwar of Baroda, who rose and said that in the whole 
course of his professional career — and he had been present 
at many meetings of the Bar at Lincoln's Inn, in the 
Middle Temple, and at Gray's Inn — he could not recall 
anything more touching than the manner in which the 
veteran leader faced the great Chief Justice, and the Chief 
Justice paid tribute to the integrity and character of the 
leader. 

I remember also entering a crowded ^hall, now some 
thirty years ago, where there was a tumultuous assem- 
blage. It was in the old wigwam in the northern part of 
the city. A speech was to be^delivered by the renowned 
orator of the black race, Frederick Douglass, and there 
was great anxiety on the part of all present to hear him. 
Mr. Price arose to address the meeting, and among the 
younger generation there were but few who knew who 



ii8 Address of Hampton L. Carson. 

he was, and some disturbance occurred because of the 
eagerness to hear Douglass. The noise rose almost to 
the point of tumult ; Mr. Price, with the trembling voice 
of great age, was unable to control it, when the chairman 
of the meeting rose, and in tones which penetrated to the 
utmost recesses of the hall, said : " Gentlemen, there are 
many of you who were not alive when the gentleman 
who is now addressing you was a faithful and an honored 
public servant. I simply mention his name in this pres- 
ence. The man who is now speaking is Eli K. Price." 
Instantly the feeling of respect was such that there was a 
hush through the hall, and for fifteen minutes the most 
rapt attention was paid to the words of one fast verging 
on eternity ; words of political wisdom, words of cheer, 
words which thrilled the hearts of that vast audience, 
because all recognized that largely owing to Mr. Price's 
courageous and persistent advocacy of the cause of free- 
dom it had become possible for a black man to speak 
without insult or rebuke before an audience in Phila- 
delphia. 

Mr. Price did not devote his attention entirely to 
professional pursuits. As he threw on the shoulders of 
his affectionate son the burden of the cares of a great 
of^ce business, he turned his eyes to those shining heights 
of science and philosophy on which thinkers love to 
dwell, particularly as they are near the closing scenes of 
life. Before the American Philosophical Society, before 
the American Numismatic Society he read papers and 
discussed the current science of the day. I recall the 
titles of his papers, " The Glacial Epoch," " Some Phases 
of Modern Philosophy ; " and with a lawyer's well-trained 
faculties, which enabled him in discussion to balance evi- 
dence and apply rules, he accomplished a task which 
surprised many persons by demonstrating that a lawyer 
was interested in much beyond the limits of his own 
profession. 

His love of plants and trees found full expression in 



Address of Hampton L. Carson. 119 

his work in Fairmount Park, where, as a commissioner, he 
labored hard upon the establishment of the Michaux Grove. 
He himself described the significance of a mound which 
he himself erected, standing over here within a stone's 
throw of the campus, a rockery, in the shape of a clover 
leaf, giving us an interesting geological description, thus 
indicating the extraordinary character of his attainments 
and the range and versatility of his mind. In 1884, in his 
eighty-eighth year, he passed away. 

The burden of a great business fell on the shoulders 
of his son, John Sergeant Price, a man who easily sus- 
tained the distinction of a great name. 

Mr. John Sergeant Price was not as frequently in the 
courts as some of the other advocates if we confine our 
attention simply to the Courts of Common Pleas, but in 
the Orphans' Court, the Court of Probate, I think it safe 
to say that, during the years in which he appeared there, 
but few practitioners more frequently or substantially 
assisted the judges in the discharge of their arduous and 
intricate duties. But few counselors ever gave to a court 
the fruits of learning in such abundance. No man ever 
discharged his debt to his profession with more unselfish 
and untiring persistence. But few men ever poured forth 
upon the records such a profuse display of varied ability 
to deal with complicated accounts, with intricate settle- 
ments, and forms of entail. He carried in his heart and 
in his head the precepts and the learning of his father. 

As a man and as a citizen, he illustrated many types 
of excellence. He was robust in his friendships, earnest 
in his advocacy of plans for public improvements, and 
stern in his denunciations of wrong. He wrote his name 
on the records of no less than eighteen public charities, 
and during twenty years served as a member of numer- 
ous committees, and presided over the meetings of the 
Central Committee of the Alumni and the Alumni of the 
Law Department. He was never known to absent him- 
self from a single meeting or to send a single line of 



120 Address of Hampton L. Carson. 

excuse for nonperformance of duty ; he was a man the 
fullness of whose affectionate nature folded about him the 
warmest sympathy and loyalty of his friends. 

Such were they, father and son, whom we honor 
to-day. The characters of some men are made of 
granite ; those of others seem to be but sand and clay. 
In the action and interaction of the wild waves of life, 
which sweep in stormy surges through the lives of most 
professional men, all the perishable parts are washed 
away, and there appear the rock-ribbed hills, which stand 
for firmness, for integrity, for nobility of aims, on whose 
sides can be seen inscribed, in characters to be read by 
all, the lessons of their lives ; and as they recede in that 
haze of years which pass one by one like cloud-rifts 
before us, finally the illumined summits appear on which 
the eyes love to linger, because they point to an atmos- 
phere of holiness. 

Gentlemen of the Pennsylvania Debating Union, it 
is in memory of good men that this hall is founded. Of 
what use is it to talk of the examples of noble lives, or 
of the deeds of those who have ** crossed the bar," unless 
we have ourselves a fixed determination to make our 
conduct a fair pattern of theirs, and, in the language of 
Goethe, " So act that the rules of our lives shall become 
the principles of eternal law." Here on this floor you 
will contend in debate. You will discuss many strange 
and arduous questions. The problems of the world are 
not yet solved, and new situations are presented every day. 
As I listened this morning to that admirable address in 
the Academy of Music from the lips of an Oriental, dis- 
cussing, in our own tongue and without an accent to 
betray a foreign origin, not only the great problems of 
the present, but forecasting the probable issues of the 
future, I felt that no academic occasion of the last hun- 
dred years was more significant of results. An Oriental 
talking in the Occident ! How long will it be before a 
man from this great, growing, struggling Western 



Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 121 

Republic will talk in the Orient in the tongue of Wu 
Ting-Fang ? What message have we for the children of 
the sun ? How many subjects of debate are suggested 
by that single thought, which must be worked out and 
discussed here ! Remember, gentlemen, it is not dex- 
terity in debate, nor satisfaction in fleshing your sword 
in the argument of your adversary, nor simply skill in 
dialectics that you are alone to acquire. You must search 
for truth, absolute truth. If we learn aright the lessons 
so impressively taught us, not only by the addresses and 
the ceremonies of the last few days, but by the lives of 
the men whose memories we to-day clasp to our hearts, 
we must feel that there can be no nobler self-sanctification 
than to the cause of our God, our country, and truth. 

Provost Harrison then introduced MR. GERARD 
Brown Finch, the representative of the University of 
Cambridge. Mr. Harrison spoke as follows : 

Ladies and Gentlemen: During these two days to 
which Mr. Carson has just referred, days so interesting to 
us all, we have received the congratulations of the Uni- 
versities of Oxford and Cambridge, and have had the 
pleasure of listening to an address by Sir Charles Arthur 
Roe. This afternoon we have the pleasure of listening to 
Mr. Finch, representing Cambridge University, and it is a 
happy circumstance that the first speech in this building 
upon the progress of the law will be from the distinguished 
guest from Cambridge. I have the very great pleasure 
of introducing to you Mr. Gerard Brown Finch. 

Mr. Finch's Address. 
I have to express my great regret that I have not 
had time to prepare on any department of the law an 
address suitable to this important occasion, which has 
drawn together eminent Judges and Professors from all 
parts of the United States. But I ought not to let the 
establishment and dedication of the new law school of 



122 Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 

this University pass without a few observations on some 
points connected with the law of England, that seem to 
me interesting and important ; and I feel assured that 
my few almost extemporized remarks will receive a kind 
indulgence at your hands. 

The field of our common law is one of vast interest 
to the student. The law furnishes the framework in 
which society exists. The cases that are dealt with in 
the courts reveal to us details of the daily life and mutual 
relations of the people in the times in which they arise ; 
and the remedies afforded mark the stage of development 
of its legal and ethical sense. 

But it is not as I have said of any department of the 
law that I wish to speak ; but in considering the develop- 
ment of the law there are two features which are of 
especial interest to me, one of them — paradoxical as it 
may sound — is a process of reversion, reversion to the 
ancient political ideas of the Anglo-Saxon race ; the other 
is an outcome of the moral growth of the people. I can 
not now venture far into either of these features of our 
legal history, but I will cite one or two instances. In the 
year 1894 ^^ Act was passed with these provisions : 

sec. I There shall be a parish meeting for every rural 

parish, and there shall be a parish council for every 
rural parish which has a population of 300 or 
upwards. 
sec. 2 'pj^g parish meeting shall consist of the parochial 

electors, namely, the persons registered in the local 
government register or the parliamentary register 
of electors. 
sec. 6 There were transferred to the parish council : 

(a) The powers, duties and liabilities of the 
vestry and of the churchwardens, except so far 
as related to the affairs of the Church ; of the 
overseers ; power to make representations with 
regard to unhealthy dwellings, and with regard 
to allotments. 
sec. 7 To the parish meeting was given power to 

adopt : 



Address of Gerard Brown Finch, 123 

{a) The Lighting and Watching Act, 1833 ; 
[b) The Baths and Washhouses Acts from 
1846 to 1882; 

{c) The Burial Acts from 1852 to 1885 ; 

[d) The PubHc Improvements Acts, i860; 

(e) The Public Libraries Act, 1892. 

sec. 8 'pj^g parish council also had conferred on it 

power — 

{a) to acquire buildings for offices, etc. ; 
{b) to acquire land for such buildings and for 
a recreation ground ; 

((f) to take charge of and improve any recre- 
ation ground, village green, or open space ; 

{e) to utilize any well, spring or stream within 
their parish, and provide facilities for obtaining 
water therefrom ; 

(/^) to accept and hold any gifts of property, 
real or personal, for the benefit of the inhabi- 
tants. 
sec. 9 Power was conferred to obtain land by compul- 

sion through the intermediation of the County 
Council, and, with the consent of that Council and 
of the Local Government Board, to borrow money. 
sec. 14 And powers of administration wdth regard to 

charities (other than ecclesiastical) for the benefit 
of the inhabitants of any rural parish, were given 
to the parish council. 

Now, Mr. Freeman, in the three lectures which he 
published under the title of *' The English Constitution," 
saw in the parish vestry " the unit, the atom, the true 
kernel of all our political life." The origin of the Parish 
is by many writers said to be found in the Manor, and the 
origin of the Manor to be found in the Teutonic Mark. 
What was this Mark, this predecessor of the parish ? 

The Mark, in one respect, was a separated tract of 
cultivated land, occupied by a greater or less number of 
freemen constituting a tribe, and bounded by forests and 
wastes, in which the tribe had a common interest, in 
which they pastured their cattle and fed their swine, cut 
wood for building, for fuel and other purposes. That was 



124 Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 

the basis on which the ancient Teutonic society rested. 
The Mark, in another respect, was, to use Mr. Kemble's 
words\ " a union for the purpose of administering justice, 
or supplying a mutual guarantee of peace, security and 
freedom for the inhabitants of the district. In this organ- 
ization, the use of the land, the woods and the waters 
was made dependent upon the general will of the settlers, 
and could only be enjoyed by all for the benefit of all. 
The Mark was a voluntary association of freemen, who 
laid down for themselves and strictly maintained a system 
of cultivation by which the produce of the land on which 
they settled, might be fairly and equally secured for their 
service and support," This institution, those whom we 
call the Anglo-Saxons, that is, the Angles, the Saxons and 
the Jutes, brought with them into England, and there 
soon came into existence a network of communities, the 
principle of whose being was separation as regarded each 
other : the most intimate union as respected the individual 
members of each. But this was not all. There was another 
institution, which consisted of a number of Marks, the 
union having been made for purposes of a religious, 
judicial and political character, Mr, Kemble says^, " as 
the Mark contained within itself the means of doing right 
between man and man, i.e., its Markmote ; as it had 
its principal officer or judge, and, beyond a doubt, its 
priest and place of religious observances, so the Shire had 
all these on a larger scale ; and thus it was enabled to do 
right between Mark and Mark, as well as between man 
and man — could decide upon the weightier causes that 
affected the whole community." 

I will give one more extract relating to the ancient 
institutions of our forefathers, and I take it from a 
translation by Mr, Freeman out of Tacitus, who has given 
us our earliest account of the institutions of the Teutonic, 
or, as he calls them, Germanic tribes, Tacitus says of 

'^ The Saxons in England, vol, i, p, 54, 
"^Ibid. vol. I, p, 73. 



Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 125 

them, " They choose their kings on account of their nobil- 
ity, their leaders on account of their valour. Nor have 
the kings an unbounded or arbitrary power, and the 
leaders rule rather by their example than by the right of 
command ; if they are ready, if they are prominent, if 
they are forward in leading the van, they hold the first 
place in honour... On smaller matters the chiefs debate, 
on greater matters, all men ; but so that those things 
whose final decision rests with the whole people are first 
handled by the chiefs... It is lawful also in the assembly 
to bring matters for trial, and to bring charges for capital 
crimes... In the same assembly chiefs are chosen to 
administer justice through the districts and villages." 

We have, in the foregoing extracts, a sketch of the 
constitution which had grown out of a self-governing, a 
liberty-loving race of free men, the expression of their 
political sense and feeling. And the kingdom which 
ultimately became established in England lasted in its 
integrity until some time before the Norman Conquest. 
I say in its integrity, because the influence of the Chris- 
tian priests, who came over from the Continent, combined 
later on with that of Norman visitors, began to work a 
change. Then came the great overthrow, known as the 
Norman Conquest, and the imposition upon the kingdom 
of the feudal system. Before that event the land belonged 
to the freemen : after the conquest it became vested in 
the king as lord paramount, and in the great lords as his 
superior vassals, who granted it out to their retainers to 
be held subject to the condition of the render of service. 
And whatever of pre-existing institutions was retained, 
yet the change in the relation of the people to the land, 
and by consequence in their freedom, was profound and 
far-reaching. For it is to be remembered, they were a 
race among whom their freedom and the ownership of 
the land on which the community was settled were insep- 
arably associated. And although the history of our insti- 
utions records the removal, bit by bit, of the feudal 



126 Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 

system, commerce undermining it and the judges, by 
their decision, helping to break down the system by 
which the lands were retained in the great families, and 
although the institution of the Crown, ruling by and with 
the advice and consent of the two houses of parliament, 
had been firmly established for centuries, yet the opening 
of the nineteenth century found the great mass of the 
people of England, including the dwellers in many large 
and flourishing towns, without any voice in the govern- 
ment of the land. 

Let us see what the vestry had become in the 
middle of the i8th century, that institution in which Mr. 
Freeman saw, as I believe the fact was, the survival of 
the ancient Teutonic mark. I have made a few extracts 
from Mr. Shaw's Parish Law, the 9th edition of which 
was pubhshed in 1755. 

A Vestry is defined as the assembly of the whole 
parish met together in some convenient place for the 
despatch of the affairs and business of the Parish. 

Anciently and at common law every parishioner who 
paid Church rates, or scot and lot, and no other person, 
had a right to come to these meetings. 

The powers of the Vestry related to the election of 
Churchwardens, Sidesmen and the Beadle, and to levy- 
ing rates for the relief of the Poor and to maintain a fire- 
engine. 

The duties of the Churchwardens were to maintain 
the fabric of the Church, other than the Chancel, and to 
take charge of the goods of the Church. And they 
were to make presentations with regard to all such 
matters as were presentable by the laws ecclesiastical 
of the realm. 

The enumeration of those matters would astonish 
any one born in these days. The Churchwardens were 
to present Almshouses, if abused ; Alehouses &c. in 
divine service. Blasphemers, if any ; whether the Parish- 
ioners attended Church ; Drunkards, if any ; offences within 



Address of Gerard Brown Fiisch. 127 

the scope of the 7th Commandment ; whether the Sacra- 
ment was received three times a year by all above 16 ; 
" And lastly, which I fear," says the Author, " is not 
duly minded, whether any, dissenting from the Church of 
England, do keep schools without having subscribed to 
the Church articles and without having a licence to teach 
from the Bishop, and without having made a declaration 
constantly to come to Church. And it being a matter of 
great moment to secure youth from being corrupted 
with ill principles, the Churchwardens are to do their 
duty therein with the utmost care." 

I pause to interject a remark that here we are in 
presence of that spirit of tyranny and intolerance that 
drove so many earnest souls to leave their homes and to 
seek in this land the freedom of worship which was de- 
nied them in their own ; a spirit which under other forms 
at last drove the liberty-loving colonists to assert by force 
of arms their right to self-government, that political 
instinct of the race. 

But, to return. When the Local Government Act 
of 1894 was passed the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical 
courts in the matters above referred to had been abol- 
ished, and the Act of 1894 transferred to the Parish Meet- 
ing the small remnant of secular authority, which then 
remained to the Vestry. That Meeting, as we have seen, 
is now no longer restricted to those who pay church 
rates ; but consists in effect of all the householders of the 
Parish, who combine within their body the freeholders, 
the tenants and the labourers. The matters confided to 
the administration of the Parish Meeting and its execu- 
tive, the Parish Council, are of larger scope than the 
levying of rates for the relief of the poor, and anyone 
who has been brought into touch with the working of 
the Parish Council, as I have, can perceive the awaken- 
ing, which is going on consequent upon the measure of 
self-government restored to the village communities and 
the sense of responsibility which its exercise entails. The 



128 Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 

Parish Meeting and Parish Council represent the ancient 
Markmote and its officers described in the extracts I have 
already given, 

I have dealt so far with the Parish. After the Parish 
conies the aggregation of Parishes forming a District, 
and the aggregation of districts forming a County. The 
Act of 1894 established District Councils, having powders 
for the maintenance of roads and the general carrying 
out of the Public Health Act. 

The County Council, was established by the Local 
Government Act, 1888. Prior to its passing the admin- 
istration of the County was vested in the Magistrates at 
Quarter Sessions, the Magistrates being appointed by the 
Lord Chancellor on the recommendation of the Lord 
Lieutenant of the County. All the administrative powers 
of the Magistrates with many other important duties were 
transferred by the Act of 1888 to the Council, a body no 
longer appointed by the central authority, but elected by 
the free voice of the householders of the County. 

Time does not permit me to speak in any detail of 
the District Council constituted by the same Act of 1894, 
or of the County Council constituted by the Local Gov- 
ernment Act of 1888 ; but the three Councils, of the 
Parish, the District and the County respectively, corre- 
spond to and represent in modern form the ancient 
Courts of the Mark, the Hundred and the Shire ; and 
they are a signal instance of the re-assertion of the idea 
of self-government which is the imperishable endowment 
of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

The various Reform Acts, the last of which was 
passed between twenty and thirty years ago, furnish 
another instance of reversion. Before the passing of these 
Acts the suffrage was limited to only a fraction of the 
people. Their effect was to give to every householder, 
whether in county, city, or borough, the right to vote in 
the election of representatives in the House of Com- 
mons. 



Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 129 

But, adequately to deal with the question I have 
raised, one should begin immediately after the Conquest 
with the demand made by the Saxons for the restoration 
of their ancient laws and the promise made by the Con- 
querer to comply ; a promise that could not be carried 
out in its fulness except by the abandonment of the feudal 
system, which was impossible. But I must mention two 
other instances. Before the Conquest women possessed 
proprietary rights, which were lost after that event. 
Under the Saxon law the guardianship only of a woman's 
property went to the husband on marriage, and prior to 
that event was vested in her father. The Norman law 
merged the legal existence of the wife in that of her hus- 
band ; eadem caro vir et uxor was its maxim. This was 
modified to some extent in later times by the action of 
the Court of Chancery, allowing property to be settled to 
the separate use of a married woman. But within the 
last thirty years the wife has had restored to her, not 
merely the protected ownership of her property under the 
ancient Teutonic system, but her rights are now as unre- 
stricted and free as those of a man, except where the 
donor of the property has superadded the protection of a 
restraint on anticipation during her married life. 

My last instance is the most conspicuous and the 
most convincing of all. The proposition I am maintain- 
ing would not be true if it did not find instances in this 
country, and the instance I will cite is the Declaration of 
Independence made in this City and the establishment of 
the Constitution of the United States. That Declaration 
sprang from the love of freedom and the craving for self, 
government which I have referred to, and which are for 
our race as the air in which it lives. And as to the Con- 
stitution, consisting, as it does, of a union of self-governing 
States, each of which is sovereign within its own ter- 
ritory and as regards its own citizens, but under the au- 
thority and protection of the Union, which is empowered 
to do right between State and State, between a State 



130 Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 

and a citizen of another State, and to deal witli the 
weightier affairs that affect the whole community, I say, 
we have in that Constitution, on a stupendous scale, the 
spirit and general design of the Teutonic institutions, de- 
scribed in the extracts I have cited, and brought into 
England by our common Anglo-Saxon forefathers. 

Ethnologists tell us that races do not change in their 
chief physical or mental characteristics, and I believe it. 
The pictures in the tombs of Egypt represent the fellah 
with the features, and doing the work, which belong to 
him in the present day ; and the wandering Arabs of the 
deserts in Syria and Arabia have prolonged to our own 
time the features, the manners, and the customs of the 
contemporaries of Abraham and Lot. The character of a 
people may be likened to that of an individual. Time 
does not change its essential elements, though it may 
bring growth. 

When I began this paper it was my intention to treat 
of the growth of the ethical element in our Common Law, 
and I proposed to bring forw^ard as illustrations of my 
second theme : — 

(i) The abolition by England of slavery in the West 
Indies at what was then considered a great price in money ; 
and the like abolition in this country at a cost in blood and 
treasure almost incalculable. 

(ii) The sympathetic treatment of subject native races 
both by England and the United States. 

(iii) The passing of the Factory and Mines Regulation 
Acts in England, by which the hours of labor of the 
working classes were shortened, protection against the 
dangers of their employment was provided, child labor 
abolished, and that of young persons regulated. 

(iv) The removal of the restrictions on Trades Unions. 

But I am compelled merely to mention them. With 
regard to Trades Unions, the struggle which is going on 
between them and the employers of labor is one of 
momentous interest ; and the impartial neutrality of the 




^ r ^ sN 






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% 



1 










1^ 









Address of Gerard Brown Finch. 131 

Common Law in that contest has been strikingly illustrated 
by the intensely interesting and important case of Allen v. 
Flood, decided by the House of Lords in 1898. I venture 
to prophesy with regard to this contest that the growing 
moral sense of the people will bring a solution beneficial 
to both parties and fraught with blessings to the State, I 
am encouraged in this view by the Workmen's Compen- 
sation Act of 1897. That Act in the case of certain speci- 
fied trades throws the compensation for personal injury, 
arising in the employment, upon the employer, that is to 
say, on his business. This is an act of justice and humanity, 
marking a great advance in the treatment of the question. 
Does not the recognition of such a right on the part of the 
workman contain the germ of a new status between him, 
his employer, and the business, out of which the final 
solution of the question may grow ? If it is true that we 
are witnessing a reassertion of the ancient ideas of our 
race, we may expect that the solution will embody in 
modern form the spirit of the ancient Anglo-Saxon organi- 
zation disclosed in the first citation which I have given 
from Mr. Kemble's work. 

Mr. Provost, in concluding this fragmentary address 
I desire to avail myself of the present opportunity to 
express my grateful thanks for the signal honor which 
the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania have done 
my colleague, Sir Charles Roe, and myself in conferring 
upon us the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. I take 
it to be an expression of the great respect and regard felt 
by the members of your University for the venerable 
Foundations of Oxford and Cambridge, which we repre- 
sent. 

And I desire to thank, not only the University, but 
also the Law Institutions and the Citizens of this great 
city, for the abundant testimonies of good-will which they 
have showered upon us. 

Mr. Provost, I wish success to this new Law School. 
May it maintain the traditions handed to it from its pre- 



132 Closing Exercises — Dinner. 

decessor ; and may it ever be the wise teacher, the faithful 
interpreter and the zealous guardian of our glorious Com- 
mon Law. 



The exercises closed with a commemorative dinner 
given by the Law Association of Philadelphia, the Law- 
yers' Club of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Bar 
Association, at Horticultural Hall, at which six hundred 
and fifty persons were present. The banquet hall and 
tables were profusely decorated with flowers, and the walls 
were hung with portraits of eminent lawyers and judges. 

Samuel Dickson, Esq., Chancellor of the Law Asso- 
ciation, presided. Upon his right sat Hon. John M. 
Harlan, of the Supreme Court of the United States ; His 
Excellency Wu Ting-Fang, the Chinese Minister ; Provost 
Charles C. Harrison ; Dr. Gerard B. Finch, of the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge, England ; Dr. S. Weir Mitchell ; Hon. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, of the Supreme Court of Massa- 
chusetts ; Mr. James C. Carter, of New York ; Hon. Wm. 
H. Taft, of the Circuit Court of the United States; 
Richard C. Dale, Esq. ; and Professor James B. Thayer, 
of Harvard University. 

On the left of the presiding officer were Hon. Wm. 
U. Hensel, ex-Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, who 
acted as toastmaster ; Hon. George Gray, of the Circuit 
Court of the United States ; Sir Charles Arthur Roe, of 
the University of Oxford, England ; Hon. Henry Green, 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ; 
President Francis L. Patton, of Princeton University; 
Mr. John E. Parsons, President of the Bar Association of 
New York ; Professor Simeon E. Baldwin, of Yale Univer- 
sity ; Hon. John P. Sterrett, of the Supreme' Court of 
Pennsylvania ; Hon. Wm. J. Magee, Chief Justice of the 
State of New Jersey, and Professor George Wharton 
Pepper, of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The following is a facsimile of the dinner program : 







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Organized 

1790 

First Lecture Delivered 

December 15, 1790 

IN THE 

Academy 

BY 

james wilson 
Second Course of Lectures 

DELIVERED BY 

CHARLES WILLING HARE 
April, 1S17 

IN THE COLLEGE BUILDINGS 
ON NINTH STREET 



Reorganization 

1850 

■UNDER 

GEORGE SHARSWOOD 



Removed to West Philadelphia 

1874 

Removed to Broad and Chestnut Streets. 

18S8 

Occupied Buildings in Independence Square 



Dinner 

GIVEN UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 

Zbc Xaw association of pbilaDelpbia 

Incorporated March 13, 1802 



tlbe Xawi?er's Club of ipbila^elpbia 

Incorporated July 9, 1892 



Zbc Ipennsplvania 3Bar association 

lacorporated July i, 1895 



Horticultural Hall 
Philadelphia, February 22, 1900 




Blue Point Ovsters 



Green Turtle Soup Rich Old Amontillado 



Olives Celery Almonds 



Chicken Halibut 
Cucumbers " Hollandaise " Sauce 

HIT 1 IT 4.,j c cy i. rv J Chateau Sauterne 

•* Vol au Vent " of Sweat Breads 



Roast Loin of Mutton Champagne 



French Peas Potatoes " Duchesse " 



University Punch 



Terrapin 



Tomato Jelly Salad Brie and Roquefort Cheese 



Nesselrode Pudding Rum Sauce 

Fruit Coffee Candy 

Cigars ' 

Cigarettes Cognac1857 




1 March . . . Hands Across the Sea . 

2 Mbdlbt . . . Overture of College Songs 

3 Waltz From The Ameer 

4 March . . . Franklin Field 

5 Selection . . . Fortnne Teller 

6 March From The Jollt Musketeer 



7 Intermezzo 

8 Selection . 

9 Characteristic 
10 March 
n Waltz 
j2 Airs From The Runaway Girl 

13 Waltz . . April Smiles . . 

14 March . . . Philadelphia's Favorite 

15 Characteristic . Smoky Mokes 

16 March . . . Houston Club 



Pas des Fleuis 

The Singing Girl 

A Bunch O' Blackberries 

The Man Behind the Gun 

The Conquerors 



. Sousa 
. ^eaU 

Herbert 
. Gilpin 
. Herbert 

Edwards 

Delibes 

Sousa 

Hol^mann 

Sousa 

Furst 
. Caryll 

Derteir 

Beait 

Hol^mann 

Coeckel 



£. S>. JSeale's ®rcbestra 




I. The Memory of Washington. 

II. The Judiciary. 

HONOILABLE GEORGE GRAY 

III. The University of Oxford. 

Sir CHARLES ARTHUR ROE 

IV. The University of Cambridge. 

Mr. g. b. finch, a.m. 

V. The University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. GEORGE WHARTON PEPPER 

VI. The American Lawyer. 

MR. JOHN E- PARSONS 

VII. The Philadelphia Lawyer. 

Mr. RICHARD C. DALE 



<5iX€SXS 



His Excellency Senor Don Manuel 

De Azpiroz 
President C. K. Adams 
Professor James Barr Ames 
President James B. Angell 
Honorable Robert W. Archbald 
Honorable E. A. Armstrong 
Honorable Michael Arnold 
Professor Clarence D. Ashley 
Honorable Charles Y. Audenried 
Honorable William N. Ashman 

Honorable Simeon E. Baldwin 
Honorable J. Hay Brown 
Honorable Joseph Buffington 
Honorable James A. Beaver 
Honorable A. V. Barker 
Honorable Abraham M. Beitler 
Professor Samuel C. Bennett 
Honorable Edward W. Biddle 
Professor Philip M. Bikle 
President William W. Birdsall 
Honorable F. Araedee Bregy 
Honorable O. B. Bechtel 

Mr. James C. Carter 
President Joseph H. Chamberlin 
Chancellor Winfield S. Chaplin 
Honorable R. L. Crawford 
Honorable George S. Crisswell 

Honorable John Dean 
Professor Henry E Davis 
Honorable Edwin M. Dunham 
Honorable P. M. Dunn 
Honorable Alfred Darte 

Honorable John P. Elkin 
Honorable Henry M. Edwards 
Honorable John A. Evans 

Mr. G. B. Finch, A.M. 
Honorable D. Newlin Fell 
Professor J. Newton Fiero 
Honorable Thomas K. Finletter 
Honorable Robert Sellers Frazer 
Honorable Joseph C. Ferguson 

Honorable Henry Green 
Honorable George Gray 



President Daniel C. Gilman 
Honorable Charles G. Garrison 
Honorable M. P. Grey 
Professor Charles Noble Gregory 
Honorable John M. Greer 
Honorable Joseph M. Gaskill 



Honorable John M. Harlan 
Honorable Oliver Wendell Holmes 
Provost Charles C. Harrison 
President George E. Harris 
Professor John H. Harris 
President George A. Harter 
Professor William F. Hunter 
Honorable William B. Kanna 

Professor William A. Keener 
Honorable Andrew Kirkpatrick 

Professor William Minor Lile 
Honorable John B. Ivivingstoa 
Honorable John G. Love 
Honorable John Lynch 
Honorable Jeremiah Lyons 
Honorable Charles I. Landis 
Honorable Wilton M. Lindsay 

Honorable J. Brewster McColIum 
Chancellor Henry M. McCracken 
Honorable John B. McPherson 
Chancellor Emlen McClain 
Honorable Harold M. McClure 
Honorable Charles B. McMichael 
Honorable Henry J. McCarthy 
Mr. James H. McKenney 
Honorable William J. Magie 
Honorable James T. Mitchell 
Honorable S. Leslie Rlestrezat 
Doctor S. Weir Mitchell 
President James D. Moffat 
Honorable William A. Marr 
Honorable Thomas A. Morrison 
Honorable Thomas J. Morris 

Honorable James H. Nixon 
Professor Charles W. Needham 

Honorable George B. Orlady 
Honorable James M. Over 
Mr. Rollo Ogden 



G UtSTS—Continutd. 



President Francis L. Patton 
Honorable William W. Porter 
Honorable William D. Porter 
Mr. John E. Parsons 
Mr John Prentiss Poe 
Mr. Henry Page 

Honorable Samuel W. Penny- 
packer 
Honorable Clement B. Penrose 
Professor W. S. Pattee 
Professor Cuthbert W. Pound 

Sir Charles Arthur Roe 
Honorai)le John R. Richards 
Hon. John W. Reed 
Honorable Edmund H. Reppert 

Honorable John P. Sterrett 
President Austin Scott 
President Isaac Sharpless 
President John S. Stahr 
President Theodore L. Seip 
President Augustus Shultze 
Professor H. F. Spangler 
Professor John D. Shafer 
Honorable John W. Simonton 
Honorable Aaron S. Schwartz 
Honorable George M. Sharp 
Hon. W. F. Bay Stewart 
Honorable Clinton R. Savidge 
Honorable Samuel McC. Swope 
Mr. Moorfield Storey 
Honorable Oscar S. Strauss 



Mr. Henry L. Stimson 
President George W. Smith 



Honorable William H. Tafl 
Professor James B. Thayer 
Honorable M. Russell Thayer 
Honorable Frank J. Thomas 
Honorable Thomas W. Trenchard 
Honorable James F. Taylor 



Honorable R. E. Umbel 



His Excellency Wu Ting Fang 
President E D. Warfield 
Honorable Everett P. Wheeler 
President Beniah L. Whitiqan 
President John D. Whitney 
Professor B. L. Wiggins 
Honorable James B. Wasson 
Honorable J S. Wilson 
Honorable Emory A. Walling 
Honorable John W. F. White 
Honorable Stanley Woodward 
Honorable Robert N. Willson 
Honorable William W Wiltbaak 
Honorable J. G. Wadlinger 
Honorable Henry K. Weaud 
Mr. Edmund Wetmore 



Honorable Harman Yerkes 



Subscrt&ers 



Mr. John Adams 

Mr. Joha S. Adams 

Mr. Francis Cope Adler 

Mr. Karry M. AlbertsoQ 

Mr. James Alcorn 

T>3r. Lticien H. Alexander 

Mr. Edward P. AJlinson 

Mr. Edward A. Anderson 

Mr. Tarces B. Anderson 

Mr. William Y. C. Anderson 

Mr. J. K. Andre 

Mr. Pierce Archer 

Mr. Richard L. Ashhurst 

Mr. O. C. Allen 

Mr. Josiah R. Adams 



Mr. R. Loper Baird 

Mr. Thomas W. Barlow 

Mr. John Hampton Barnes 

Mr. J^orris S. Barratt 

Mr. Lewin W. Barringer 

Mr. James M. Beck 

Mr. J. Claude Bedford 

Honorable Dimner Beeber 

Mr. John C. Bell 

Mr. Charles Biddle 

Mr. Cadwalader Biddle 

Mr. Frederick D. Biddle 

Mr. Louis A. Biddle 

Mr. Lynford Biddle 

Mr. Charles C. Binney 

Mr. George Tucker Bispham 

Mr. Fdgar N. Black 

Mr. Edward II. Bonsall 

Mr. Francis H Bohlen 

Mr. Tames R. Booth 

Professor Henry S. Bomeman 

Colonel Wendell P. Bowman 

Mr. Peter Boyd 

Mr. F. B. Bracken 

Mr. Louis Bre^ 

Mr. Frederick L. Breitinger 

Mr Frank F. Brightly 

Mr. Joseph Hill Brinton 

Mr. Joseph J. Broadhurst 

Mr. Clarence M. Brown 

Mr. Francis Shunk Brown 

Mr. Henry P. Brown 

Mr. William Findlay Brown 

Mr. William H. Brown 

Mr. F. Pierce Buckley 

Mr. John C. Bullitt 

Mr. Dnncah I^ Bazby 



Mr. George F. Baer 
Mr. George R. Bedford 
Mr. Frederick Bertolette 
Mr. James K. Bowen 
Mr.-O. C. Bowers 
Mr. W. U. Brewer 
Mr. W. Michael Byrne 
Mr. J. W. B. Eausmaa 



Mr. John Cadwalader 

Mr. John Cadwalader, Jr. 

Honorable James D. Campbell 

Mr. John M. Campbell 

Mr. George W. Carr 

Mr. V/. Wilkins Carr 

Mr. Charles Carver 

Professor Hampton L. Carson 

Mr. Henrv S. Cattell 

Mr. Joseph L. Caveu 

Mr. Francis T. Chambers 

Mr. S. Spencer Chapman 

Mr. Horace L. Cheyney 

Mr. Frank S. Christian 

Mr. B. Frank Clapp 

Mr. John A. Clark 

Mr. Joseph S. Clark 

Mr. Harry G. Clay 

Mr. Ludovic C. Cleeman 

Mr. Edward H. Cloud 

Mr. J. B. Colahan, Jr. 

Mr. James I. Coraly 

Mr. Samuel W. Cooper 

Mr. James C. Corry 

Mr. George L. Crawford 

Mr. John P. Croasdale 

Mr. T. Dewitt Cuyler 

Honorable Charles M. Campbell 

Mr. Edwin Rouse Cochran, Jr. 

Mr. Charles Corbet 

Mr. E- W. Coggeshall 



Mr. Charles F. DaCoeta 
Mr. Richard C. Dale 
Mr. Howard A. Davis 
Mr. G. Harry Davis 
Mr. Sussex D. Davis 
Mr. Henry M. Dechert 
Colonel Henry T. Dechert 
Mr. Joseph J. DeKinder 
Mr. George Demming 
Mr. James Aylward Develia 
Mr. Samuel Dickson 



SLrBSaWBERS—CoMtinutd. 


Mr. Hazard Dickson 


Mr. Joseph S. Goodbread 


Mr. Arthur G. Dickson 


Honorable James Gay Gordoa 


Mr. Edwin S. Dixon 


Mr. James E. Gorman 


Mr. Joseph I. Doran 


Mr. John F. Gorman 


Mr. D. Webster Dougherty 


Mr. William Gorman 


Mr. Charles H. Downing 


Mr. Leo J. Gorman 


Mr. WiUiam Drayton 


Mr. James P. Gourley 


Mr. Henry S. Drinker 


Mr Francis I. Goweu 


Mr. Henry M. DuBois 


Colonel Charles S. Greene 


Mr. William F. Dannehower 


Mr. Joseph L. Greeuwald 
Mr. William Grew 


Mr. George S- Darlington 




Mr. Warren G. Griffith 




Mr. Victor GuQIou 


Mr. Henry R. Edmunds 


Mr. Charles Francis Gummey, Jr. 


Mr. Adolph Eichholz 


Mr. John M. Gai-man 


Mr. Fi-ank S. Elliott 


Mr. Lyman D. Gilbert 


Mr. George A. EUasser 


Mr. H. H. Gilkyson 


Mr. Isaac Elwell 


Mr. William B. Given 


Mr. Rowland Evans 


Mr. Horace Pellraan Glover 


Mr. Lincoln L,. Eyre 


Mr. James C. Gray 


Mr. B. Frank Eshelmaa 


Mr. Norman Grey 


Mr. Montgomery Evans 




Mr. P. C. Evans 




Honorable Nathaniel Swing 


Mr. Alfred R. Haig 




Mr. Henry W. HaU 




Mr. Vv'illiam C. Hannis 


Mr. Thomas A. Fahy 


Mr. E. Hunn Hanson 


Mr. Thomas A. Fenstermaker 


Mr. Thcmas B 'Harned 


Mr. William C. Ferguson 


Mr. Avery V. Hsn-ington 


Mr. George H. Fisher 


Mr. David C. Harrington 


Mr. Henry Flanders 


Mr. W. C. Hj«-ris 


Mr. Charles D. Fortio 


Mr. William F. Harrity 


Mr. William G. Foulke 


Mr. Gavin W. Hart 


Mr. Roland R. Foulke 


Mr. Charles Henry Hart 


Mr. Joseph C. Fraley 


?.Ir. Thomas Hart, Jr. 
Mr. Henry R. Hatfield 


Mr. Angelo T. Freedley 


Mr. Parker R. Freeman 


Mr. Charles Heebner 


Mr. William S. Furst 


Mr. George Henderson 


Mr. Philip F. Fulmer, Jr. 


Mi. J. Bayard Henry 


Mr WiUiam H. Futrell 


Mr. Morton P. Henry 


Mr. Edward J. Fox 


Mr, Max Herzberg 


Mr. Gilbert Rodman Fox 


Mr. Luther E. Hewitt 


Honorable Austin O. Furst 


Mr. Anthony A. Hirst 




Mr. Edward Hopkinson 




Mr. Joseph Hopkinson 


Mr. Vivian F. Gable 


Mr. Samuel B. Huey 


Mr. Charles Boyd Galloway 


Mr. J. tjuincy Hunsicker 


Mr. Henry E. Garsed 


Mr. Samuel M. Hyneman 


Mr. Joseph M. Gazzam 


Mr. E. H. Hall 


Mr. John H. Geil 


Mr. J. Frank E. Hause 


Mr. Frederick J. Geiger 


Mr. William M. Hayes 


Mr. J. Howard Gendell 


Mr. George W. Heiges 


Mr. John S. Gerhard 


Mr. Isaac Heister 


Mr. Harry B. Gin 


Mr. J. Webster Henderson 



S UBSCRIBERS— Continued. 


Honorable 'Williatn U. Hensel 


Mr.William H. R. Lufcens 


Mr. F. G. Hobson 


Mr. N. H. Larzelere 


Mr. Archie M, Holding. 


Mr. Andrew Albright Leiser 


Mr. William McPherson Homer 


Mr. William Penn Lloyd 


Mr. Charles W. Henry 


Mr. Milton W. Lowry 


Mr. Charles E. Ingersoll 


Mr. wniiam E McCall, Jr. . 




Mr. John Mc Clintock, Jr., 




Mr. Edward G. McCollin 


Mr. John G. Johnson 


Mr. Joseph P. McCullen 


Mr. H. LaBarre Jayne 


Mr. Francis Mcllhenny 


Honorable Theodore F. Jenkins 


Mr. H Gordon McCouch 


Mr. William F. Johnson 


Mr. Edward G. McLaughlin 


Mr. Howard Cooper Johnson 


Mr. Thomas F. McMahon 


Mr. J. Levering Jones 


Mr John Blair MacAbee 


Mr. George Junkin 


Mr. Leo McFarland 


Mr. Joseph DeF. Junkin 


Mr. William MacLean, Jr. 


Honorable Edwin A. Jaggard 


Mr. C. H. McCauley 


Mr. Richmond L. Jones 


Mr. Andrew H McClintock 


Mr. Walter C. Janney 


Honorable Henry C. McCormick 




Mr. Seth T. McCormick 




Mr. Harrj' A. McFadden 


Mr. J. B Kinley 


Mr. Robert McMeen 


Mr Samuel H. Kirkpatrick 


Mr. Edward W Magill 


Mr William F. Kling 


i>lr. Andrew J. Maloney 


Mr. Edward W Kuhlemeier 


Mr. Joseph Mason 


Mr. Samuel H. Kaercher 


Mr. Charles H. Matthews 


Honorable Wm S. Kirkpatrick 


Mr Clinton Mayer 


Mr. Irwin P. Knipe 


Mr. Daniel B. Meany 


General W. H. Koontz 


Mr S. Edwin Megargee 




Mr. Robert A. Meier 




Mr. Leoni Melick 


Mr. John O. Lamb 


Mr. Joseph Mellors 


Mr. Charles A. Lagen 


Mr. George G. Mercer 


Mr. Joseph F. Lamorelle 


Mr Thomas E. Merchant 


Mr. W. Moylan Lansdale 


Mr. William E Mikell 


General James W. Latta 


Mr. E. Spencer Miller 


Mr. Thomas Leaming 


Mr. N DuBois Miller 


Mr. Frederick M. Leonard 


Mr. Albert L. Moise 


Mr. Julius C. Levi 


Mr. William W. Montgomery 


Mr. Francis A. Lewis 


Mr Alfred Moore 


Mr. Francis D. Lewis 


Mr Charles E. Morgan, Jr. 


Mr. John Frederick Lewis 


Mr. RandallMorgan 


Professor William Draper Lewis 


Mr. Effingham B. Morris 


Mr. William H.Lex 


Mr. William Morris 


Mr. James H. Little 


Mr. W Norman Morris 


Mr. H. A. Little 


Mr. Thomas D. Mowlds 


Mr. J. Washington Logue 


Mr. Joseph W. Moyer 


Mr. Mayne R. Longstreth 


Mr. James T. Maffett 


Mr. Samuel K. Louchheim 




Mr. Henry C. Loughlin 




Mr. Bemjamin H. Lowry 


Mr. William D. Neilson 


Mr. William Walter Lucas 


Mr. William L- Nevin 



SUBSCRIBERS— Continued. 



Mr. H. S. P. Nichols 
Mr. George E. Nitzsche 
Mr. Henry Nunez 
Mr. James B, Neale 
Mr. H. C. Niles 



Mr. William H. O'Brien 
Mr. M.J. O'Callaghan 
Mr. Francis J. O'Conner 
Mr W. C. M. Oram 



Mr. S. Davis Page 

Mr. C. Stuart Patterson 

Mr. John W. Patton 

Mr. Morton Z. Paul 

Mr. J. Rodman Paul 

Honorable Edward M. Paxson 

Mr George Peirce 

Honorable Boies Penrose 

Professor Geo. Wharton Pepper 

Mr. Samuel C. Perkins 

Mr. Silas W. Pettit 

Mr. Horace Pettit 

Mr. Alfred J. Phillips 

Mr Sheldon Potter 

Mr. John Power 

Mr, Frank P. Prichard 

Mr. William S. Price 

Mr. Eli Kirk Price 

Mr. Edward F. Pugh 

Mr. Earl B. Pulman 

Honorable Henry W. Palmer 

Mr. Mas Pam 

Mr. Roswell H. Patterson 

Mr. S. R. Peale 



Mr. Francis Rawle 
Mr. W. Brooke Rawle 
Mr. Eugene Raymond 
Mr. John R. Read 
Mr Gustavus Remak, Jr. 
Mr. Waller E. Res 
Mr. E. Clinton Rhoads 
Mr. Joseph R. Rhoads 
Mr. J. Howard Rhoads 
Mr. George P. Rich 
Mr. Frank M, Kiter 
Mr. Owen J. Roberts 
Mr V. Gilpin Robinson 
Mr John I. Rogers 



Mr. Emil Rosenberger 
Mr. Joseph G. Rosengarten 
Mr. P. Frederick Rothermel, Jr. 
Mr. Horace M. Rumsey 
Mr. Louis Barcroft Runk 
Mr. John G. Reading, Jr. 
Mr. James H. Reed 



Mr. John Samuel 

Mr. Joseph Savidge 

Mr Charles H. Sayre 

Mr. Edward S. Sayres 

Mr. Edwin F. Schively 

Mr. G. E. Schlegelmilch 

Mr. Charles S. Schofield 

Mr. Edwin J. Sellers 

Mr. James C. Sellers 

Mr. George Sergeant 

Mr. William W Sergeant 

Mr. Edmund B. Seymour 

Mr. E. Cooper Shapley 

Mr. Charles J. Sharkey 

Mr. Frank R. Shattuck 

Mr. Albert B. Shearer 

Mr. Albert S L. Shields 

Mr. Frederick J. Shoyer 

Mr. Robert N. Simpers 

Mr. Alexander Simpson, Jr. 

Mr. Jacob Singer 

Mr. Alfred Percival Smith 

Mr. A. Lewis Smith 

Mr. Lewis L. Smith 

Mr. Walter George Smith 

Mr. W. Rudolph Smith 

Mr. Elias P. Smithers 

Mr, Charles L. Smyth 

Mr. Jacob Snare 

Mr. Frederick A. Sobernheimer 

Mr. Isaac N. Solis 

Mr. John Sparhawk, Jr. 

Mr. William H. Staake 

Mr. Heury F. Stitzell 

Mr. John M. Strong 

Mr. Martin H. Stutzbach 

Mr. W. Henry Sutton 

Mr. John J. Sullivan 

Mr. Charles M. Swain 

Mr. George R Sanderson 

Mr. William I. Schaffer 

Mr Robert Snodgrass 

Mr. Robert B. Staples 

Mr Russell C. Stewart 



Commtttces 
Committee on Banquet an& 2>ecoratton3 

WILLIAM H. STAAKE. Cbairman 
JOHN R. READ 
VICTOR GUILLOU 
JOHN B. COLAHAN. JR. 
A. H. WINTERSTEEN 
EDWARD P. ALUNSON 

Committee on IJnvltatlons 

ANGELO T. FREEDLEY, ChaiTman 
FRANCIS SHUNK BROWN 
P. F. ROTHERMEL, jR. 
SILAS W. PETTIT 
JOHN C. BELL 

Committee on Coasts 

JOHN CADWALADER, Cbairnum 
RICHARD L. ASHHURST 
GEORGE TUCKER BISPHAM 
ALEXANDER SIMPSON, JR. 
JAMES M. BECK 



-•' k' 



flT-'-'-H. * 



fm/-<K- >■ , 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 147 

While the guests were assembling and during the 
banquet an orchestra, stationed in the foyer, rendered 
musical selections. 

The company being seated, Mr. Dickson arose and 
delivered the following introductory address : 

Gentleinen : — When Mr. Justice Harlan, His Excel- 
lency the Chinese Minister, and representatives of Oxford, 
Cambridge and Harvard Universities consented to 
deliver addresses at the opening of the new building of 
the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, the 
Provost and Trustees felt warranted in inviting members 
of the Bench and Bar and of the universities and colleges 
throughout the country to be present ; and when it 
became known how graciously this invitation had been 
acknowledged, the members of the Bar of this city and 
State requested that they might be allowed to ask those 
in attendance to be their guests this evening. We were 
fully aware that although it seems to have been, even in 
the days of Shakespeare, a custom of immemorial anti- 
quity for adversaries in law to strive mightily, but to eat 
and drink as friends, a dinner of this kind has never yet 
been made entirely satisfactory, but it may at least serve 
as a collective expression of goodwill and cordial wel- 
come and friendly regard, and as such we hope it will be 
accepted by our guests this evening. The members of 
our Bar highly appreciate the honor done to the Univer- 
sity and to the city by the presence and participation on 
this occasion of so many distinguished men, and they 
have planned and prepared this entertainment as a token, 
however imperfect, of grateful appreciation. 

In thus coming together, it is impossible not to have 
a new and keener sense of our community of interest in 
our common profession. We have here the representa- 
tives of sixteen law schools ; of the State judiciary from 
Massachusetts to Minnesota ; of the Federal judiciary 
having jurisdiction from the Lakes to the Gulf and from 
ocean to ocean ; and of the great historic universities of 



148 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

England. But although process runs in a different name 
in each different jurisdiction, the system of jurisprudence 
is, in its main features, substantially identical in every 
forum represented here to-night. For this inestimable 
advantage, the people of the United States are mainly 
indebted to the lawyers of the United States, and prima- 
rily and chiefly to those who so instructed and controlled 
pubhc opinion, from the beginning of the controversy 
with Great Britain, that the War of the Revolution was 
conducted throughout as one of self-defense for the pre- 
servation and protection of the constitutional rights and 
privileges of the colonies. 

In making the contest upon these grounds, they were 
following precedents with which they were familiar in 
English history. The conservatism of the race has 
always, except in the case of the Commonwealth, pre- 
vented any violent break with the past, and Dr. Arnold 
has well said that it is the blessing of English history that 
its " days are bound each to each by natural piety," and 
that the continuity of the national life has never been 
severed. The American lawyers of the last century were 
as resolute as the English statesmen of 1688 in their 
determination to hold fast to all that was good, and at 
the very time of renouncing allegiance to the English 
crown, they renewed their allegiance to the common law 
of England. 

The part taken by lawyers in framing the Federal 
and State Constitutions has been a frequent theme of 
commendation by the commentators and courts, as nota- 
bly in the address to which we had the pleasure of listen- 
ing last evening, but, so far as I know, nothing has been 
said of the great service done by the lawyers of the 
Revolution in carrying over the everyday law of the 
people, nor of what has since been done by their succes- 
sors down to the present, to make it what it now is. A 
brief mention of a few familiar facts will recall to your 
minds something of what has been done by the profes- 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 149 

sion during the last century and a quarter in this behalf, 
and, at the same time, conduce to a better understanding 
of the significance of such a gathering of American 
lawyers as this. 

It had long been the fashion to speak of the common 
law as the birthright of Englishmen. In the preamble of 
the Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania of 17 18 
it was recited that " it is a settled point that as the com- 
mon law is the birthright of English subjects, so it ought 
to be the rule in British dominions " ; and in 1722 it was 
said by the Master of the Rolls to have been determined 
by the Lords of the Privy Council, " that if there be a 
new and uninhabited country found out by English sub- 
jects, as the law is the birthright of every subject, so 
wherever they go they carry their laws with them." This 
view was generally accepted, with the qualification that 
the colonists carried with them only so much of the law 
of the mother country as might be found applicable to 
their condition in the new. 

In fact, therefore, each colony had gradually built up 
a common law of its own, adapted to its peculiar wants, 
which differed in many respects from the original, and 
from that of the other colonies. There were few edu- 
cated lawyers on this side of the Atlantic down to the 
latter half of the eighteenth century, and no book gave 
an adequate and easily intelligible statement of the prin- 
ciples and rules of the common law till the appearance of 
Blackstone's Commentaries. The settlers were chiefly 
engaged in tilling the soil, their hands were seldom idle, 
and in their simple and primitive lives they had little need 
of the refinements of the law. What they prized was the 
liberty to govern themselves in their own way, to manage 
their own affairs, to follow their own customs, and to 
assert and maintain the personal independence of the 
individual ; and above all, they valued the guarantees 
which have always made the common law the bulwark of 
the liberty of the people. 



1 50 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

It is probable, therefore, that in claiming the common 
law as their heritage, they were using language to which 
they did not always attach any very clear and distinct 
meaning ; but beginning with the year 1 760, a brilliant 
group of young men, no less than one hundred and fifteen 
in number, chiefly from South Carolina, Virginia, Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania and New York, crossed the ocean to 
become students in the Inns of Court, Most of them 
became conspicuous in the great debate which followed 
their return, and among them were most of the men who 
became the leaders of the Old Bar of Philadelphia. From 
their political writings, and from the scanty summaries of 
their arguments preserved in the reports, and from the 
opinions of those of them who sat upon the Bench, we 
still continue to find satisfactory proof that they would 
have been learned and accomplished lawyers in any court 
of any day ; and when they spoke of the common law, 
they meant by it what the term means now. No more 
glowing and discriminating panegyric upon the common 
law was ever pronounced than by Judge Wilson in the 
lectures which he delivered in 1790 before the Law School 
of the University, 

It cannot be doubted that it was their influence which 
led to its formal adoption by the several States soon after 
the Declaration of Independence. At the first session of 
1776-7 of the General Assembly Pennsylvania under the 
new Constitution, an Act was passed continuing all laws 
previously enacted, together with the common law, and 
such of the statutes of England as had theretofore been in 
force, except as specially excluded. Similiar action was 
taken in other States, and by constitutional provision, by 
statute, or by judicial declaration, the common law was 
made the basis of the legal system in all of the thirteen 
States. 

It was, of course, the modified system in each colony 
which became of binding authority in the new State, 
but fortunately, the Commentaries of Blackstone of 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 151 

which the first volume was only published at the 
end of 1765, had been completed in time for an edition 
to be published in this city in 177 1-2, and, as Burke 
pointed out in his speech in favor of conciliation with 
the colonies, more copies had been sold in America 
than in England itself, and it is estimated that at least 
twenty-five hundred copies had been sold here before the 
Revolution. No single agency did so much to bring 
about a substantial uniformity in the common law through- 
out the country, but by the adoption of only so much of 
the system as was in force at the date of the Declaration 
of Independence, it became a question for the courts, in 
each case, to determine whether the original rule had 
been introduced or superseded. This compelled the con- 
stant consultation of that great repertory of wisdom, which 
had been accumulated during the past centuries of English 
history, and which was recorded in the English reports, 
from the Year Books down ; but, what is of greater value, 
it preserved and transplanted those seminal principles of 
growth by which the common law had come to be what 
it was, and by which it was to adapt itself to the wants 
and usages of a free people during all the centuries which 
were to follow. They thus retained the right of free 
access to the great body of decisions through which the 
system had slowly broadened down from precedent to 
precedent, while reserving the power to modify and 
change so as to suit the varying conditions of an active 
and vigorous people, rapidly expanding and developing 
in a new country. Hence, the law which really comes home 
to men's business and bosoms in ordinary times of peace 
and order, and which governs them in all the relations of 
private life, in the family, and in society ; by which they 
owned or conveyed or devised their estates ; by which they 
made or rescinded or enforced contracts ; and by which 
every-day affairs were managed and conducted, continued 
just as before. The presumption was against any change 



152 Address of Samuel Dickson. 

having been made, and the burden was on him who as- 
serted its existence or necessity. 

No men are more wedded to precedent and more 
averse to innovation than lawyers, on or off the Bench ; 
but there never was any hesitation in recognizing an 
accomplished change in the habits and usages of the peo- 
ple, or a substantial distinction between the natural condi- 
tions here and abroad. Numerous modifications have 
therefore been made to bring the law into accord with the 
character and spirit of our institutions, and it may be 
fairly and justly claimed that both in retaining what was 
old and in welcoming what was new, the lawyers of this 
country have always acted in accordance with the precept 
of Bacon — " to take counsel of both times, of the ancienter 
what is best and of the later times what is fittest ; to re- 
form without bravery or scandal of former times, yet to 
set it down to ourselves as well as to create good prece- 
dents as to follow them." 

Every lawyer will recall the changes which have 
been introduced into the law of his own State, and, by 
way of illustration, reference need only be made to such 
familiar instances in Pennsylvania as the disregard of the 
rule which rendered seizin in the grantor necessary to the 
validity of a conveyance of land ; the rejection of markets 
overt ; the law of the waygoing crop ; the law of the road, 
of fences, and the like. Some or all of these find a par- 
allel in other States, but one is of peculiar interest as 
illustrating how substantially the same question has been 
successively dealt with as it first arose on this side of the 
Alleghenies, and finally presented itself upon the Pacific 
slope. 

From an early day, the navigable fresh- water rivers 
of Pennsylvania, though not tidal, had been declared 
public highways, and hence the old common-law rule as 
to the rights of the riparian owner was rejected. A simi- 
lar view was finally adopted when the scope of the ad- 
miralty powers of the courts of the United States was 



Address of Samuel Dickson. 153 

extended over navigable rivers and the great lakes; but the 
most striking example of the capacity of the common law, 
as a system of living principles, to adapt itself to the 
needs and facts of a vivid and vigorous life under new 
and stimulating conditions, was furnished by the manner 
in which the miners of California made a common law of 
their own. They drafted and adopted their own rules and 
regulations for each camp, and they claimed and exercised 
the right to appropriate and divert and consume the 
whole or part of any^stream, and to assert the ownership of 
the water as against all the world, without any obligation 
to return it to its channel. When these rights had ripened 
into a coherent scheme, they were recognized and rati- 
fied by Act of Congress, but they revealed the capacity 
of men reared under " the hardy features of personal in- 
depence," fostered by the common law, to frame a form 
of government in an emergency, which courts and leg- 
islatures found it impossible subsequently to improve 
upon. 

Thus it is that the people of this country, but chiefly 
its lawyers, have been engaged in building up a system 
which may now properly be termed the American com- 
mon law. With patient and laborious research into the 
records of the past ; with careful comparison between the 
conclusions reached in contemporaneous courts ; by 
earnest and thorough discussion of every question of 
principle or of public policy, the members of our profes- 
sion, each in the courts of his own State, are steadily and 
surely building up the great fabric of American law — the 
wide arch of the rang'd empire. 

Not less, but in some respects more important, are 
the labors of men like those of Oxford and Cambridge 
who have lately written a history of English law before 
the time of Edward I., so thorough and complete as to 
make the profession in every English-speaking country 
their debtor, and who have taught us how better to value 
the work done at home, by the estimate they have put 



154 Address of Samuel Dickson, 

upon it, when they say, as they do, that " when the 
ground has lately been occupied by a Holmes, Thayer, 
Ames, or Bigelow, they pass over it rapidly from a desire 
to avoid what they should regard as vain repetition."* 
They thus, in their turn, are perpetuating and making 
available all that is valuable in the past and helping to 
diffuse a scientific spirit among those engaged in the 
practice and exposition of the law, while those who are 
brought by their daily avocations into direct contact 
with the life of the people, and are compelled to deal 
with the average man as client or juror, are forced to 
study the practical outcome and to put every proposed 
improvement to the test of experience. 

We may, therefore, justly regard ourselves, gentle- 
men — all of us, from the youngest tyro among those who 
united in tendering this entertainment, to the most dis- 
tinguished of our guests — as fellow-workers in a common 
cause, each making some contribution to the common 
stock of legal doctrine, which is to be the most precious 
possession of the American people so long as the Repub- 
lic shall endure, and to which may be fitly applied the 
words with which Goethe described Venice, " a grand, 
venerable work of combined human energies ; a noble 
monument, not of a ruler, but of a people." 

At the close of his address, Mr. Dickson presented 
Mr. William U. Hensel as the toastmaster of the even- 
ing, who, in a graceful speech, assumed the duties of his 
position. 

The first toast was " The Memory of Washington," 
which was drunk standing and in silence. Mr. Hensel 



* When one reads that sentence and thinks of the place which the 
monumental work of Sir Frederick Pollock and Professor Maitland has 
already taken, and is sure to hold so long as the English law is studied, 
he cannot help recalling Thackeray's comment on Gibbon's allusion 
to Fielding : " To have your name mentioned by Gibbon is like having 
it written on the dome of St Peter's. Pilgrims from all the world 
admire and behold it," 



Response of George Gray. 155 

next proposed " The Judiciary," which was responded to 
by Hon. GEORGE GRAY. Judge Gray spoke as follows : 

Mr. Toastniaster : I will not presume, with my small 
experience on the Bench, to respond for the Judiciary. 
In the few words that I shall utter I shall attempt to 
speak only <7/"the Judiciary. It would be a fruitful theme, 
indeed, were one permitted to dwell upon the relation of 
the Judiciary and the Judicial systems of our country to 
its growth and civilization. No fact stands out more 
prominently, even to a superficial observer of the history 
of English speaking peoples, than the important part 
performed by the Judiciary in the development of that 
history. It is not a hasty or ill founded generalization to 
say that the freest countries in the world — the countries 
where the largest individual liberty co-exists with the 
greatest security for public order — are those in which the 
judiciary are held in highest esteem and exert the widest 
influence. And it needs not to be said that those are the 
countries in which the mould and vehicle of free thought 
is English speech, and the accent of liberty is taught by 
an English tongue. We are compelled to conclude that 
it is a part of the instinct of our race and blood to achieve 
liberty regulated by law by those means which prove 
most efficient for that purpose. 

If justice is the chief concern of government, the in- 
strumentality by which it is administered must always be 
of the first importance. Our ideals of individual liberty, 
and of national and community freedom, which underlie 
all our municipal law, have their beginnings far back in 
the history of our race. With their growth and develop- 
ment have grown and developed our conceptions of the 
judicial establishment and the proper powers and func- 
tions of a free and independent judiciary. 

I am recalled, in speaking of this subject, to an elo- 
quent passage in John Richard Green's *' History of the 
Making of England." I have a copy of it, and will yield 
to the temptation of reading it in this connection. He says, 



156 "The Judiciary." 

in speaking of the town moot, in the early history of the 
peoples from whom we sprang : 

" It is with a reverence such as is stirred by the sight 
of the headwaters of some mighty river that one looks 
back to these village moots of Friesland or Sleswick. It 
was here that England learned to be ' mother of parlia- 
ments'. It was in these tiny knots of husbandmen that 
the men from whom Englishmen were to spring learned 
the worth of public opinion, of public discussion, the 
worth of the agreement, the * common sense,' the general 
conviction to which discussion leads, as of the laws, which 
derive their force from being expressions of that general 
conviction. A humorist of our own day has laughed at 
parliaments as ' talking shops,' and the laugh has been 
echoed by some who have taken humor for argument. 
But talk is persuasion, and persuasion is force, the one 
force which can sway freemen to deeds such as those 
which have made England what she is. The ' talk ' of 
the village moot, the strife and judgment of men giving 
freely their own rede and setting it as freely aside for 
what they learn to be the wiser rede of other men, is the 
groundwork of English history." 

And so it has come to be, that the common sense 
and best sense of every community, the conviction that 
has come from the crucible of discussion and contention, 
satisfying the awakened conscience and most enlight- 
ened judgment of the day, is voiced for us and for all 
English speaking people, from the judicial tribunal. 
Small wonder, then, that, from the beginning, there 
was required of those called to this high function a 
more than ordinary equipment of learning and of 
character. Doubtless in those beginnings the judg- 
ments and the personnel of the Bench partook of the 
rudeness of the times, but they both reflected what 
was best and most robust in the society of the day, 
and the development and improvement of both went hand 
in hand with the growth of civilization and the amelioration 



Response of George Gray. 157 

of manners. And so our judiciary of to-day is the develop- 
ment, the fruition, and the perfect flower of the growth of 
the race to which we belong. It was because free institu- 
tions were in the blood and bone of those from whom we 
descended that we have them now, and, if God is willing, 
we will preserve them by the same means that we have 
always preserved them, by a brave, learned and inde- 
pendent judiciary. It is in declaring and expounding 
that great body of the law that lies outside of express 
legislative enactment, that our courts have performed 
their most important office, and have been enabled to 
exemplify and give articulate expression to the growth of 
the law. This is sometimes irreverently called "judge- 
made law," but it is only the voicing of the higher moral- 
ity and the broader humanity of the time in which they 
speak. 

It is after this fashion that " the law of the land," in 
its best and highest meaning, has become our inheri- 
tance, and that the muniments of freedom and individual 
liberty have been measurably placed beyond the reach of 
hostile legislation, executive power, or the encroachment 
of dominant majorities. It is this high meaning that the 
time-honored phrase, " the law of the land," has had 
since the days of ''Magna Charta'''' down to the present 
time. Institutional freedom and the fundamental per- 
sonal and political rights which may not be infringed, 
are to-day the peculiar care and highest trust of the 
judiciary — State and National. It is in the preservation 
of the rights, which were not the concessions of govern- 
ments, but which governments were formed to protect, 
that our courts have performed their highest functions. 
It was an appeal to this " law of the land " that made 
resistance to the tyranny of English monarchs successful 
where with other people it failed, and it is this, the " law 
of the land," which to-day is our best security against 
the despotism of power, whether democratic or pluto- 
cratic. 



158 "The Judiciary." 

Usurpation, whether striking through the forms of 
legislation or through unauthorized executive power, 
finds this barrier, and behind it a judiciary ready to 
defend and maintain it. The institutional freedom of a 
country can have no safeguard so reliable, no protection 
so strong, as that of a courageous, learned and indepen- 
dent judiciary. It is the sentiment inborn in a people, 
that prompts it to resist tyranny, but no weapon was 
ever forged for freedom's hand, that has been so potent 
in the resistance of tyranny and the conservation of indi- 
vidual liberty, as that found in the judicial system that 
forms itself in an English speaking community. Brave 
men in other lands have resisted oppression with superb 
self-devotion, have shed their blood and sacrificed their 
lives to achieve a temporary victory, but they have often 
fallen back and failed to garner the fruits of victory from 
the want of the instinct that has been given our race to 
maintain as the " law of the land " the sacred principles 
of individual freedom, through the instrumentality of a 
judiciary, whom no power could awe or forces of corrup- 
tion seduce. 

No battles for individual freedom have been more 
important in their results — indeed, I may say, none have so 
permanently enlarged the area of human freedom — as 
those that have been fought by lawyers in the judicial 
forum. It is counted as one of the chief glories of our pro- 
fession, that the constant contention carried on by legal 
minds over fundamental principles, has so fashioned and 
tested them, that they have become, as it were, stones 
fitted by judicial hammer and chisel into the enduring 
fabric of our liberties. What I wish to impress in this 
connection is, that our judicial system is a growth and 
development of the civilization of our race, and was not 
struck out by the hand of man at one blow from the mint 
of his logical faculties. The judiciary has become an 
important part of our governmental system, because we 
cannot do without it. We do not know how to do with- 



Response of George Gray. 159 

out it. And the capacity of the people for self-govern- 
ment may well be tested by their readiness to accept and 
recognize the necessity for judicial tribunals, and their 
willingness to abide by their decisions fairly made. The 
integrity of their judiciary, I may safely say, is very dear 
to all American communities, as it is to all English- 
speaking communities everywhere. We delight to honor 
them. The Supreme Court of the United States has 
been, through all our history, the pride and ornament of 
our Federal Government. Without it, all will agree that 
it could never have been successfully carried on — nay, it 
could hardly have survived the first decade of its exist- 
ence. 

Its career has been illustrated by the splendid intel- 
lects, exalted character, civic courage, and great learning 
of its members. The " great Chief Justice " was only 
primus inter pares^ and Taney and Chase and Waite 
were worthy successors of Marshall; and the names and 
fame of Storey and Nelson, of Clifford and Miller, of 
Field and Bradley, to speak only of the dead, belong not 
only to the Bench, but to the profession which they 
adorned and honored. Thrice happy the people that can 
point to such a heritage of courage and character in 
high place, and thrice happy will they remain, so long 
as they prize that heritage, and value the institutions 
which it adorned. Every man who loves the Republic, 
who cherishes high hopes for humanity, who hates 
anarchy, and loves liberty, will give his best efforts and 
highest endeavor to guard and maintain this great tri- 
bunal, as the best means of securing the blessings of 
liberty to ourselves and our posterity. 

Its long history is not only stained by no crime, but 
the brightness of its escutcheon has not even been dimmed 
by unworthy compliance with the behests of power, or by 
any swerving in the path of duty, when pressed by the 
" civilian ardor prava j'tibentitimy Individual liberty has 
been safe in its keeping, and the integrity of our dual 



i6o "The Judiciary." 

system of government has been maintained when angry 
partizanship would have wounded or destroyed it. 

It has made a democratic repubUc possible by giving 
legal expression to the sometimes incoherent cries of free- 
dom, and by crystallizing into law what is held in solu- 
tion, as it were, in the best and highest thought of the 
time. In its serene presence, the agitation of a turbulent 
democracy becomes a healthy alternative for political 
stagnation, and we can safely prefer the yeasty waves of 
freedom to the calm sea of despotism. 

I have spoken thus far of the growth of a judicial 
system which has been largely common to this country, 
and that from which we derived our common law and 
much of our institutional freedom, but, in this presence, 
it cannot pass without notice that our Federal and State 
judiciary have, in a way peculiar to our own conditions, 
had a co-operative development and growth of their own. 
All that has been said of the Federal Supreme Court can 
be well applied to the Supreme Judicatures of the several 
States. Charged with the administration of the law and 
the practical realization of justice between men in their 
everyday life ; charged with the enforcement of rights 
and the remedying of wrongs that grow out of the daily 
contacts of men in the pursuit of business or of pleasure ; 
supervising all the most intimate relations of life, the 
great body of our jurisprudence has been moulded under 
their direction, and has grown and been developed by 
their forming hands. 

But I have only time in this connection for a single 
thought, and that is that in this country, owing to the 
happy chance that our separate colonies grew into sepa- 
rate States, each endowed with a sovereignty, which is 
only qualified by the formation of a general government 
to which enumerated powers have been delegated, there 
has been an opportunity for the realization of a local self- 
government, which theretofore and in other lands has 
only been the dream of political philosophers. In other 



Response of George Gray. i6i 

lands its attainment has been attempted by a distribution 
of powers by a central government down through the 
communities which were the creation of such govern- 
ment, and were dependent upon it for their existence ; 
while here it has, like all enduring institutions, been the 
natural product of time and circumstance. The right of 
local self-government is inherent in the sovereignty of 
each State, and depends on no power extraneous to itself, 
and looks to no great central authority except for its 
guaranteed protection. The States, one and all — the 
smallest as well as the greatest — stand on the firm 
ground of their equal sovereignty, as all being charter 
members of the great corporation of American liberty. 

We share in the feeling of exaltation that must have 
filled the breast of the Apostle Paul when, under sentence 
to be scourged, the Chief Captain came unto him in 
great haste, and said unto him : " Tell me, art thou a 
Roman ?" He said yea. And the Chief Captain answered, 
" With a great sum obtained I this freedom." And Paul 
said, '■^But I was free borny 

One observation appropriate to this occasion, which 
I wish to make, is this, that this separateness of the States, 
each with its independent judiciary, has developed a 
comparative jurisprudence of which there is no other 
example in the world. Experiments in government have 
thus been enabled to be localized, and while one State 
takes a tentative step, the others can and do stand by to 
observe and watch and record the result for the benefit 
of all. The tentative step sometimes proves an advanced 
step, which is thus safely taken without shock or disturb- 
ance of public feeling or existing institutions. A certain 
healthy rivalry and competition between the States have 
resulted, and have done much for the common advance- 
ment of all. And it must also not remain unsaid that 
through the discussions had in our State courts and the 
well considered judgments of State tribunals, no less than 
in the Federal courts, our dual system of government has 



i62 " The University OF Oxford." 

been brought to work harmoniously, so that State and 
national government, each in its own orbit, without clash 
or obstruction from the other, have made the experiment 
of our constitutional government a grand and over- 
whelming success. 

It is such law that challenges the study of the most 
cultivated minds, and the loyalty of the most patriotic 
hearts. It cannot be taught by rote. All philosophy, all 
science, and all the best that human thought has achieved 
in its pursuit of the truth, are drafted into its service, and 
contribute to the building of its temple, always growing 
in beauty and in use, but never completed. 

Here on this auspicious occasion we hail the noble 
University that is giving increased facility for such study 
of the law, and inviting in increasing numbers our ingenu- 
ous youth to enroll themselves among its votaries. Here, 
in the years to come, will young Americans throng to study 
the growth, and learn the principles of this great science 
— not as a means of sordid money getting, but with the 
enthusiasm, ardor and elevation of spirit that belong to 
the higher planes of human endeavor, and to the unselfish 
desire to benefit their country and mankind. Here they 
will learn the law " whose seat is the bosom of God, and 
whose voice is the harmony of the world." 



" The University of Oxford " was the next toast pro 
posed, in response to which Sir Charles Arthur Roe 
spoke as follows : 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : 

On behalf of the University of Oxford I thank you 
most heartily for the manner in which you have received 
this toast. You have expressed the pleasure of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania and the Law Societies of 
Philadelphia at receiving a representative of Oxford. 
I can assure you most sincerely that Oxford had 



Response of Charles Arthur Roe. 163 

no less pleasure in sending one — and that I myself 
am more than pleased that she sent me. The Republic of 
Learning is even greater than your own great Republic ; 
it knows no distintion of parties, or even of nationalties. 
From the infancy of that Republic it has been the custom 
for members of one University to visit sister Universities, 
and whether they did so in a representative or in a per- 
sonal capacity they always received a hearty welcome. 
The hospitality extended to them may seem poor indeed 
when compared with what you have so generously 
lavished on us — but it resembled it in this, that it was the 
best the entertainers had to give, and it was given heartily. 
Although the teaching of an University extends over 
many — if not all — branches of knowledge and science, the 
teaching of Law has ever held a foremost place in the 
Course of Study. It is the opening of its magnificent new 
buildings for the Law School which the University of 
Pennsylvania has been celebrating yesterday and to-day, 
and our hosts to-night are the representatives of those 
who put teaching into practice. In the papers which have 
been read in the course of these two days the question has 
been discussed whether a course of University study — or 
of what is called practical training in a lawyers ofBce — is 
the better preparation for those who intend to follow the 
law as a profession. The surroundings, amidst which I 
have for some years past been engaged in the administra- 
tion of the Law in India, differ widely from those of 
England and America ; but I have also, as Vice-Chan- 
cellor of the University of the Punjab, had a good deal to 
do with the formation of Law Schools and courses of teach- 
ing, and my opinion — whichHs, I think, that of Indian 
Judges generally — is that, although office experience is 
undoubtedly necessary before actual practice is com- 
menced, it is in the highest degree desirable, if not essential, 
that it should be preceded by a course of thorough and 
systematic study of the principles of Law. It is the prin- 
ciple — and above all the spirit of the Law of England — 



164 " The University of Cambridge." 

the principle that no man shall be condemned without a 
fair trial, and the resolve to do justice between man and 
man, or bodies of men, which is the common inheritance 
of all English speaking races throughout the world, which 
constitutes what is really valuable in Law — and the prin- 
ciple and point we can all unite in upholding, whether our 
duties lie in the Lecture Room, on the Bench or at the 
Bar, and whether we are called on to discharge them in 
America, in Europe or in Asia. 



Mr. Gerard Brown Finch in response to the toast 
"The University of Cambridge," said: 

On behalf of the University of Cambridge I thank 
you for the cordiality with which you have received this 
toast. It has been a pleasure to me to realize the respect 
and affection with which the old Universities of England 
are regarded by the people of this country. But the 
regard is not one sided ; and I wish I could adequately 
convey to this great assembly the cordiality with which 
the University of Cambridge accepted the invitation to 
take part in your rejoicings on the "successful accomplish- 
ment of this long wished for and most important project. 

The University of Cambridge would gladly have 
sent one of its most distinguished sons, a Judge of the 
Court of Appeal, but he could not be spared. I venture, 
however, to say that my friend. Sir Robert Romer, 
though bringing greater dignity and ability, would not 
have brought a greater or more sincere goodwill than 
mine. 

In drinking to the welfare of my University you 
naturally ask how it fares with it in the sphere of work 
and duty. Does it aid in the advancement of learning ? 
Is it assiduous in the pursuit of truth ? 

To these questions I can give you an assuring 
answer. Never was the University of Cambridge doing so 



Response of Gerard Brown Finch. 165 

much and such useful work for science or letters as it is 
doing to-day. But how does it stand in relation to the 
workers in those arts, the underlying principles of which 
it investigates ? Is there any bridge between our scien- 
tists and the industrial workers of England ? I am glad 
to say that the need of this bridge is felt. The remark- 
able growth and the high status of the Medical School 
afford an answer on one side of the question ; and the 
establishment of the School of Engineering under the 
most able direction of Professor Ewing, and the recent 
creation of a Professorship of Agriculture afford an 
answer on another. 

With regard to the importance of good relations 
between the peoples of Great Britain and the United 
States, of which I have heard so much since my arrival 
here, I personally feel no solicitude. Substantially and 
in the main we are one people. We have the same ideals. 
We are alike in our love of freedom and justice. We 
have the same Common Law, which is at once an ema- 
nation from and a moulding force of our race. There is 
thus a fundamental harmony between the two peoples. 
Quarrels may confuse this harmony for a time, but it is an 
abiding influence. 

In one of Wagner's great compositions there is a 
majestic, solemn movement, representing, it might be, 
the harmony that is in immortal souls. Then sounds of 
strife and discord, angry and petulant, are heard. But 
all this time the stately, solemn movement goes on. So 
it is in the relations of the two peoples. There has been 
strife ; angry contention is sometimes heard. They are 
but as the discords in Wagner's great work. They do 
not affect the stately march of that great underlying 
music, that brings all into harmony with itself. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, I return you my sin- 
cere thanks for the manner in which you have drunk the 
health of the University which I have the honor to 
represent. 



i66 "The University of Pennsylvania." 

Mr. Hensel next proposed " The University of Penn- 
sylvania," which was responded to by Mr. George 
Wharton Pepper. 

It is a graceful recognition of the place of the 
University in this community that a toast in her honor 
should be proposed on this occasion. As you drink 
to her health I am glad to report that she is well — that 
she is a hundred and sixty years old, but strong and 
vigorous and in full possession of all her various faculties. 
This is not a little wonderful ; for one would have 
expected that under the influence of the college faculty 
she would have dried up long ago ; that the Medical 
Faculty would have completed her destruction, and that 
the Law Faculty would even now be quarelling over her 
estate. Fortunately, this is not the case. Vigorous and 
healthy as she is, she is giving birth each year to new 
generations of vigorous and healthy sons (and now and 
then a daughter or two), and is the only person in the 
community who realizes the ambition expressed the other 
day by a small boy of my acquaintance, who said to his 
mother, " Mamma, when I grow up Fm going to have three 
hundred children." "What are you going to do?" she 
asked, " Adopt a Sunday School ? " " No, sir," he replied^ 
" Fm going to born 'em all myself." Our Alma Mater 
" borns them all herself." She individualizes them and 
watches over them with protecting care. She responds 
to your call with vivacity and begs to assure you that 
she will live and work and grow as long as this great 
community continues to exist. 

Much has been said yesterday and to-day of the 
University's work in law. To this I can add nothing. I 
propose to speak of her activities in other fields, and to 
place before you a conception of her relation to the com- 
munity in which we live. 

Like other institutions, the University of Pennsylva- 
nia has passed through periods of conspicuous public 
service and periods of relative obscurity. At all times, 



Response of George Wharton Pepper. 167 

however, her work has been carried steadily forward. 
At no time, perhaps, has she claimed a larger share of 
public attention than during the early days of her history 
in the last century. Philadelphia was then the metrop- 
olis. The President and the Congress were here. Com- 
mencement day was an event of public importance. 
President Washington attended and received his LL. D.; 
Dr. Franklin was much in evidence, watching over the 
institution in the founding of which, he had taken so 
deep an interest. Then, as now, generous and public 
spirited citizens gave abundantly in response to her ap- 
peals. In the presence of our distinguished guests from 
the mother country, it is interesting to recall the fact that 
George the Third was a liberal patron of the institution, 
and that the then Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as 
distinguished dissenting divines, pronounced their bless- 
ing upon the institution whose Provost, Dr. Smith, was 
himself the holder of a degree from Oxford University. 
It is also interesting to remember that throughout the 
University's history, cordial personal relations have been 
maintained between members of her Faculties and of her 
Board of Trustees and the scholars and literary men of 
old England. 

The sons of the University are not concerned with 
the question of her relative rank among institutions of 
learning. There can be no such thing as rank in the 
world of culture. It is enough for them to know that 
her work is worthy — enough to observe that each year 
she is rendering greater services to the community — 
enough to note in the long list of those who are spread- 
ing her fame, such men in the College Faculty as Barker 
and McMaster, and Patten and Fullerton, and Learned 
and Doolittle, and Hilprecht and Jastrow — and to see 
such men in the Medical School as those who are carry- 
ing on the work of Agnew and of Leidy ; and to perceive 
that the teachers in the Law School catch inspiration 
from the scholarly achievements of him who is still with 



i68 "The University of Pennsylvania." 

us as a professor emeritus — our revered and well-beloved 
Judge Hare. The University of Pennsylvania, my 
friends, was the first American University to confer de- 
grees in medicine ; the first among surviving universi- 
ties to give instruction in law ; the first to plan and 
organize the graded college curriculum which, for a 
century, was the basis of instruction in our American 
colleges, the first to establish a school of finance and 
economy, and the first to establish a school to investigate 
the laws of health. It is you who have done these things. 
All of you, whether you are sons by birth or adoption, 
have a part in this work. We must see to it that in the 
future even greater things are done than in the past. 
There is no way in which you can render a greater ser- 
vice to your community. 

Bear with me a moment while I speak of the relation 
between the University and the community. In old 
times universities were not always ministers of progress. 
They were not always found on the side of science. 
They often espoused the cause of the classes against the 
masses. They were beholden to rich men. Brains were 
enlisted on the side of defending existing abuses instead 
of remedying them. Thank God, there has been a 
gradual declaration of independence on the part of many 
of our American universities. To-day they stand forth as 
champions of the truth. They receive liberal gifts, but 
by common consent the gifts carry with them no recipro- 
cal obligation to the wealthy donors. University profes- 
sors are not, and must not be, hampered in their work of 
investigation. It is a sad day when their teachings are 
revised on the ground of heterodoxy. Their positions 
must be secure even if they controvert an accepted rule 
of Greek grammar or insist upon a revision of an accepted 
view about the date of a Bibhcal event, or venture to 
preach and to teach a method of legal education which is 
not precisely the same as that which has given us the 
Nestors of the bar. The University must recognize truth 



Response of George Wharton Pepper. 169 

as the ultimate test of all things. She must not stoop to 
set her mint-mark upon an untruth, or strive to carry it 
through by the mere force of her authority. 

It used to be said that University training unfitted 
students for the work of life. Very few people would 
seriously make that contention to-day. Those who do 
are usually the people who forget that a man's life is not 
all lived in the counting house — that part of his work con- 
sists in facing and solving the great problems of the Here 
and Hereafter — that he is bound to serve his com- 
munity as an intelligent and public spirited citizen, and 
to lend the weight of his character and influence to the 
conduct of public afTairs. Such a man is a practical man 
in the truest sense. He will be ready for all the emergen- 
cies of life. You will never catch him ofT his guard. 
Probably the revivalist had a university training of whom 
the story is told that he depicted the terrors of hell in 
lurid colors and warned his hearers that in hell there 
should be weeping and gnashing of teeth. An old lady in 
the front row quickly responded, " That doesn't apply to 
me — I have no teeth." " Madam," he said with commend- 
able readiness, "teeth will be provided." No, my friends, 
university men are not the unpractical men. Their train- 
ing has taught them that if the world is to become better 
they must pitch in and work for the great result. The 
unpractical men are those who fondly imagine that the 
world is to be reformed by eloquent and copious denun- 
ciation of those who are sweating in Hfe's struggle ; who 
think that they are serving their country when they pass 
scathing resolutions condemning the policy of the admin- 
istration in dealing with a situation which they themselves 
would make a hopeless mess of — who suppose that 
attacks on individuals and the use of unkind and untrue 
and disrespectful language about the President and his 
advisers are useful contributions to the solution of the 
problems which we have in hand. Some of them, I 
believe, are holding a meeting in a neighboring hall 



170 "The University of Pennsylvania." 

to-night. To-morrow you will see the account of their 
proceedings in the papers. Do you suppose you will find 
therein any helpful or practical or constructive suggestion? 
Not a line — not a word — not a syllable — not an inarticulate 
attempt to utter a helpful syllable. These people might 
well learn a lesson from the helpful suggestiveness of a 
University man who was appealed to by a lady sitting 
next him at a luncheon. " Oh, sir," she said, " I have 
just dropped an egg on the floor ; what shall I do? " — to 
which he promptly responded, "Cackle, Madam, cackle." 
The duty of the University to the Community is 
something intensely practical. It is to hold aloft an 
ideal of education and culture and to strive to realize 
that ideal in the person of its graduates. The community 
has a right to subject university men to searching criti- 
cism. But it must not be perverse and unintelligent criti- 
cism. The University does not pretend that every graduate 
in Arts is a ripe scholar or that every M. D. is an experi- 
enced practitioner or that every graduate in law is a 
storehouse of legal information. The University in the 
course in Arts aims to give a rounded development to 
a young man's mental, moral and even physical nature ; 
to take the conceit out of him ; to drive him into the posi- 
tion of a learner ; to give him an enthusiasm for the in- 
tellectual life. The Law School aims to train a man to 
think like a lawyer, to catch the spirit of the law's devel- 
opment, to analyze an authority and to determine its 
significance, to grasp the relation of our law to our 
political and economic development. If this is accom- 
plished he may be trusted (without further aid from the 
University) quickly to perfect himself in details of prac- 
tice and to ascertain by inquiry when it is that jury 
trials are held in Perry County and whether in Venango 
a mortgage is discharged by an Orphan's Court sale. 
University students must be in earnest. There is no 
place for triflers. The University authorities would not 
deal lightly with the youth who composed this epitaph 



Remarks of Francis L. Patton. 171 

for his own tomb : " An indulgent son, ambitious for 
liis father, he was patient in the pursuit of pleasure." 

Your pardon for so long a speech. The subject and 
the occasion carry me out of myself. I shall not have 
failed in my purpose if I can convince you that the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania realizes the weight of the respon- 
sibility which is laid upon her in virtue of her glorious 
past and her opportunities for a still more glorious future. 
Realizing her responsibility is the first step towards the 
discharge of it. We are assembled together to signalize 
the visible result of her effort to do her duty in one of 
her many fields of activity. Gentlemen of the Philadel- 
phia Bar, I know I speak for the Provost when I say that 
yozc have made the Law School Building a possibility — a 
reality. You and the rest of the community occupy a 
similar position toward all the departments of the Uni- 
versity's work. Give her, my friends, your sympathy, 
your affection, your support. Stand by her in times of 
adversity. Rejoice with her in this season of prosperity. 
So shall you encourage her in her patient search for ulti- 
mate truth and strengthen her in her ceaseless struggle 
for a larger measure of culture and of light. 

The Toastmaster here departed from the printed 
program to call on Dr. Francis L. Patton, President 
of Princeton University, for a few remarks. 

President Patton spoke briefly on the relations of the 
theological and legal professions, and dwelt on the obliga- 
tion of the American Bar to the universities of the world 
for the work done by them in fundamental jurisprudence. 

"We have come to-day," he continued "to an era 
when the prevailing question is the social organism. 
There never was a time when we felt so much that the 
proper study of mankind is man. We must now consider 
the relations in which we stand to others, and make the 
practical application of the moral law in studies of the 
moral and social relations among new peoples. 



1/2 "The American Lawyer." 

" I congratulate the University of Pennsylvania upon 
its work. I go home jealous to the last degree of your 
splendid position. I am ambitious that in time soon com- 
ing we may rival you in the establishment of a law school 
on these same lines, and wdth something like the same 
kind of equipment." 

To the toast " The American Lawyer" Mr. John 
E. Parsons, spoke as follows : 

Many here, no doubt, are familiar with the inscrip- 
tion over the principal portal of St. Paul's Cathedral in 
London, which commemorates the architect of the build- 
ing, Sir Christopher Wren, Si mommietitum requiris^ 
circimispice. If you would seek his monument behold, 
the toast " The American Lawyer " to which I am to re- 
spond here answers itself. The American Bar can furnish 
no more representative assemblage than is gathered to- 
gether in this place. All that is illustrious is represented 
by my brothers of the profession and by the distinguished 
judges who have graced this occasion with their presence. 
If one would know about the American lawyer, here are 
illustrations. Study their careers. Become familiar with 
their characteristics. 

To such I can say little, if anything, which does not 
come to your minds when you consider the noble science 
to which you have devoted your lives and recall that the 
history of the profession to which you belong goes back 
to the remotest antiquity, and that in its membership have 
been enrolled names of the most useful and distinguished 
men of ancient and modern times. It is essential to the 
regulation of society that there shall be a system of law 
and that it shall rule and regulate the transactions of men ; 
furnish security and protection ; to which all, rich and 
poor, high and humble, may appeal with full confidence 
that by it their rights will be protected and their wrongs 
redressed. The law is superior to force. It is stronger 
than the caprice of sovereigns. And as it is essential to 



Response of John E. Parsons. 173 

its well-being that society shall be governed by such a 
system, so does it follow that there shall be a class upon 
whom shall be put the responsbility of representing those 
whose interests, whether of life or of property, shall be at 
stake, and who shall devote time and talent to fit them- 
selves to render just such service. 

It is of the American lawyer that I am to speak. As 
an American lawyer, I must avoid anything like vain- 
glory or unsuitable eulogy of the profession or of its 
members. The late distinguished Lord Chief Justice of 
England, Lord Coleridge, in his farewell address in New 
York on the occasion of his visit here, in contrasting his 
country with ours made little reference directly to Eng- 
land. His illustration of true greatness was taken from 
Holland, of which he spoke as a land rescued from the 
sea by the labor and intelligence of its inhabitants, and 
made a model of what could be accomplished by industry, 
intelligence and patriotism. The minds of his hearers 
were left to cross the Channel, and in thinking of the 
achievements of the country that was mentioned, to pic- 
ture the greater achievements of the country that was 
not. And so, perhaps, in any attempt to portray the 
American lawyer, it may not be amiss first to say a few 
words about the lawyers of England and France, between 
which countries and ourselves the relations have been 
the closest. Naturally our thoughts turn first to Eng- 
land. The story of its administration of the law and of 
its lawyers is preserved from the time of the Conqueror 
and before. It has been illuminated by some of the 
grandest names in English history. What lawyer can 
ever forget Eldon and Erskine, Hardwicke and Thurlow, 
the great Lord Mansfield, Lord Somers, Sir Matthew 
Hale, Sir Edward Coke? The list is endless. Lord 
Campbell has made us acquainted with their character- 
istics, their peculiarities of mind and temper. History 
tells of the achievements of these noble men. To a nota- 
ble career at the Bar most of them added invaluable 



174 " The American Lawyer." 

service upon the Bench. And yet there is Httle similarity 
between the American lawyer and an English barrister, 
and less similarity between an American lawyer and an 
English attorney or solicitor. The division of the pro- 
fession into the two ranks creates a radical difference. 
Whether the system is wise or unwise by comparison 
with ours has been a fruitful subject of discussion. It is 
not easy to pronounce an absolute judgment in favor of 
one system or the other. I have no doubt that it is in 
the interest of those who practice law that there should be 
no such division. 

Mr. James Grant in his book on the Bench and Bar, 
published in 1838, says that at that time the number of 
gentlemen belonging to the English Bar was nearly 
6,000; that of that number there were 1,500 whose names 
were upon the law list ; and yet that not more than per- 
haps seventy or eighty had anything to do worthy of the 
name of business. Nothing is more agreeable than the 
professional life of a successful barrister in London. His 
income is assured, his fees are paid in advance. Mr. 
Grant describes his income at that time as princely. It 
might reach to as high as six to eight thousand pounds, 
and in exceptional cases to even twelve thousand. But 
I confess that my sympathy has always been with those 
other members, to whom a guinea fee was a God- 
send, and who, having dined themselves into the profes- 
sion, soon reached a time when for them a dinner was 
impossible from the profession. 

I have often been in the English courts. I have 
witnessed the conduct of cases by such distinguished 
lawyers as Hawkins, Karslake, Coleridge, Henry James, 
Roundell Palmer, Sir Richard Webster. They are pro- 
found in their knowledge of the law ; convincing in argu- 
ment ; admirable in the directness and succinctness with 
which they go to the heart of their subject. But so far 
as concerns the interests of clients, I do not think that we 
need to fear in a comparison between them and the lead- 



Response of John E. Parsons. 175 

ing members of the profession here. The relegation to 
solicitors and attorneys of the responsible preparation of 
the case frequently results in a want of original famili- 
arity with it by the barrister who is to conduct it. I 
think that the lawyers here will agree with me that to 
insure success, as far as possible the case should be 
thoroughly understood from the beginning and that 
what is possible should be known by the lawyer of the 
case of his adversary. 

We are apt to concede to the English Bar a more 
elevated standard of professional ethics than we claim, 
by and large, for ourselves. It may solace us to remem- 
ber that while England has furnished to the profession 
some of its noblest members, ignoble names too have 
crept into its ranks. In England there was a Jeffries. 

My friend and predecessor as President of the Bar 
Association of the City of New York, Mr. William Allen 
Butler, in his little pamphlet of " Lawyer and Client," in 
speaking of the disrepute into which the profession had 
fallen not long after Hampden and his noble band had 
fought their battle for English liberty and constitu- 
tional law, refers to tracts which were then being issued 
from the press with such titles as these : " The Downfall 
of Unjust Lawyers," " Doomsday Drawing Near," " The 
Thunder and Lightning for Lawyers" (1645, by John 
Rogers), " A Rod for the Lawyers " (1659, by William 
Cole). It was of English lawyers that these tracts were 
written. And for the matter of that, the opprobrium 
which at times has visited the profession has come largely 
from such great names in English literature as those of 
Milton, Wadsworth and Dean Swift, and they only echo 
what Juvenal had said centuries before. 

Mr. Butler repeats Ben Johnson's epitaph on Justice 
Randall as condensing in a couplet the popular estimate 
of the profession : 

God works wonders now and then, 
Here lyes a lawyer, an honest man. 



176 "The American Lawyer." 

The history of the law and of lawyers in France ex- 
tends to the time when Gaul was a Roman province. 
There lawyers have played a more important part in 
public affairs than has ever been the case in England. 
French writers claim for their lawyers greater brilliancy 
of eloquence than consorts with our more plain, direct 
and practical Anglo-Saxon mode. I have occasionally 
been in the French courts. While doubtless they reach 
accurate results, their system is so unlike ours that they 
do not appeal strongly to me. Napoleon had frequent 
occasion to employ lawyers. To them in principal part 
he owed the Civil Code, with which his name will always 
be associated ; and yet he entertained the feeling of in- 
difference or antipathy which I have often met in France 
towards her lawyers, save in the case of a limited number 
of exceptional distinction, who have been as prominent, 
if not more prominent, out of the profession than in it. 

Louis XVI selected for his trial two lawyers. Turgot, 
in a public lettter to the Moititetcr, excused himself in 
terms which revealed the extreme of pusillanimity. Tron- 
chet stood by the king ; and to the credit of the profes- 
sion everywhere, and in vindication of the French bar 
from criticism, which is prone to be carping, it should 
always be remembered that Malesherbes, at seventy-one, 
volunteered to defend the king, although it brought him 
to the scaffold, and that De Seze stood by his royal client 
with a boldness and courage which left nothing to be 
desired, saving himself by flight. 

I must not forget that it is of the American lawyer 
that I am to speak. How does he rank with his brethren 
across the sea? Standing here one must remember that 
if the founder of Pennsylvania had had his way, either 
there would be no profession of the law, or its members 
would be in sorry plight. "Peace-makers" were the 
functionaries upon whom William Penn preferred to rely 
to adjust the differences which would arise, even in a 
community which was composed chiefly of Friends. 



Response of John E. Parsons. 177 

From the earliest period it was necessary that from such 
a tribunal there should be an appeal to a regularly con- 
stituted court. 

The late Mr. David Paul Brown, in his work, the 
" Forum," gives the history of the establishment of the 
Pennsylvania Courts, of their development, and mentions 
many of the distinguished names — Shippen, Willing, 
McKean, Dallas, and a numberless list of others whose 
achievements have made of Philadelphia lawyers a dis- 
tinct class. 

When we recall such lawyers as Jay and Hamilton, 
Webster and Wirt, Choate, Marshall and Story, Henry 
and Lowndes, the late Mr. O'Connor, the late Judge 
Benjamin R. Curtis, Black and Butler, and the distin- 
guished Philadelphians whom I have mentioned, we 
must be sensible that the standard of the profession 
among us has been high, and that, without boastfulness, 
we may claim that the American lawyer stands well in 
comparison with the lawyers of England and of the Con- 
tinent. It has never seemed to me that those who aspire 
to become members of the Bar need fear, because they 
are sensible that they do not possess the highest order of 
intellectual endowment. Few in any walk of life do. The 
fable of the hare and the tortoise is often illustrated 
among lawyers. Mere brilliancy will make a lawyer 
neither useful to his client nor successful in his practice. 
Absolute integrity, fidelity to those who entrust him with 
their interests, a conscientious bestowal of his best efforts 
to the work in hand — these are the characteristics which, 
in my judgment, will give to an American lawyer a cred- 
itable career, even if he fails to reach the highest rung 
of the ladder. 

A bill in the Legislature of my State is being opposed 
by our Bar Association. It might read " An act to make 
John Smith a lawyer." I do not need to tell you that 
the John Smith of the bill is a leading politician ambitious 
to enter the ranks of the profession from the humbler 



178 "The American Lawyer." 

position which he now occupies. In no such way can a 
lawyer be made. Work — earnest, steady, untiring work 
— is essential to turn the ordinary man into the ordinary 
lawyer. But my experience of the past forty years 
assures me that, if there be this willingness to work, the 
aspirant for professional success does not need to fear. I 
claim for the profession in America a high degree of 
moral excellence. To no members of society come the 
same temptations ; none have the same opportunity of 
benefitting themselves at the expense of others. During 
the last forty years I have been acquainted with a large 
proportion of the large number of lawyers in New York. 
I can remember only four occupying anything Hke a 
prominent position, who, in yielding to temptation, have 
been untrue to themselves and to the profession. 

In no other place is the public life of a country so 
dependent upon lawyers as with us. From the formation 
of the government they have controlled in the Houses of 
Congress, in State Legislatures, in public place. Here 
there is a marked difference as compared with England. 
It has often been remarked that lawyers have not been a 
success in the House of Commons. In America legislative 
action and the conduct of the government are largely 
dependent upon them. From my own observation and 
experience, I claim for the members of the Bar that they 
will be found in the forefront of movements for reform, 
that in the main they may be depended upon to be on the 
right side in public matters. The interests of the State 
are largely dependent upon the American lawyer. The 
interests of his clients are absolutely dependent upon him. 
Whether it is the fee which he receives or the public duty 
which he recognizes, the American lawyer is committed 
to a course of truth, fidelity and uprightness. It is easy 
to sneer. We who belong to the profession have the 
right to take pride in the fact that we are American 
lawyers. 



Response of Richard C. Dale. 179 

The last toast of the evening was " The Philadelphia 
Lawyer," to which Mr. Richard C. Dale, of the Phila- 
delphia Bar, responded as follows : 

The Philadelphia lawyer has the incentive of a great 
past. The pacific temper of the founder of this Common- 
wealth gave no intimation that the City of Brotherly Love 
would be the first home of the American lawyer. 

In the body of laws framed in England for the colon}^ 
in 1682 it was provided : 

" That in all courts all persons of all persuasions may 
fully appear in their own way, and according to their own 
manner, and there personally plead their own cause them- 
selves, or, if unable, by their friend, with the further 
requirement that 

" Before the complaint of any person be received he 
shall solemnly declare in court that he believes in his con- 
science his cause is just." 

This attempt to conduct the controversies of the 
community without the aid of a trained Bar soon demon- 
strated its inherent impracticability. In the earliest State 
Constitution of 1776 we find the lawyer recognized in the 
clause : 

" That in all prosecutions for criminal offences a man 
hath a right to be heard by himself or his counsel." 

But long before the Constitution of 1776 the Phila- 
delphia lawyer made himself heard. In 1735 Andrew 
Hamilton, called by Gouverneur Morris " The Day Star of 
the American Revolution," was summoned from Philadel- 
phia to defend before the Provincial Court of New York 
John Peter Zenger, indicted for a seditious libel against 
the Governor General of the province. Declining any fee 
for his services, he was presented with the freedom of that 
city in a gold box. 

Referring to Hamilton's defence of this case Mr. 
Binney says : 

" It is worth remembering, and to his honor, that he 
was half a century before Mr. Erskine and the declara- 



i8o "The Philadelphia Lawyer." 

tory act of Mr. Fox in asserting the right of the jury to 
give a general verdict in Hbel as much as in murder, and, 
in spite of the Court, the jury believed him, and acquitted 
his cHent." 

The courage, vigor of thought and eloquence of 
Andrew Hamilton marked an era in colonial history, and 
the sentiment with which he closed his great address to 
the jury is worthy of perpetual preservation : 

" The liberty both of exposing and opposing arbitrary 
power by speaking and writing truth." 

Andrew Hamilton shortly after this trial became a 
Judge of the Admiralty for the province of Pennsylvania, 
and upon his death was succeeded by Tench Francis, of 
whom it was said by Chief Justice Tilghman in Lyle f. 
Richards : 

" In the year 1745 it was supposed that Mr. Francis 
was the most eminent lawyer in Pennsylvania. He 
appears to have been the first of our lawyers who mastered 
the technical difficulties of the profession. His precedents 
of pleadings which have been handed down, and his com- 
mon lavv^ book, are evidence of his great industry and 
accuracy." 

The records, however, of the Colonial Bar are so 
meagre that Mr. Binney, in his '' Reminiscenes of the Old 
Bar," began the history of that Bar with the men who 
were its leaders after the Revolution, saying : 

" Of the primitive Bar of the province we know 
nothing, and next to nothing of the men who appeared 
at it from time to time up to the termination of the Col- 
onial Government." We may be certain, however, that 
even before the Revolution its standard of learning was 
high and its character is evidenced by the men who were 
leaders immediately after. 

Upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the 
Supreme Court of the United States held its sessions in 
Philadelphia until 1798. The reports of its decisions, as 
found in the volumes of Dallas, show that during these 



Response of Richard C. Dale. i8i 

early years a large majority of all the cases were pre- 
sented by Philadelphia lawyers. William Lewis, Edward 
Tilghman, Jared Ingersoll and the elder Rawle appear 
in continuous reiteration. These were the men who gave 
to the name of Philadelphia lawyer that peculiar tone 
which we hope will always be theirs. Of Edward Tilgh- 
man it was said by Judge Duncan : 

"That he could untie the knots of a contingent 
remainder or executory devise as familiarly as he could 
his garter." And yet Mr. Binney was able to say of 
him, also : 

" With juries he was nearly irresistible. He talked 
to the panel as if he were one of them." 

Of Jared Ingersoll, Mr. Binney referring to the fact 
that he and Mr. Sergeant had been students in Mr. 
Ingersoll's office, said : 

" A name that I can never mention without the pro- 
foundest veneration, as my master and guide in the law." 

After such praise from such a source nothing more 
can be added. 

When the Supreme Court was removed to Washing- 
ton we find the Philadelphia lawyer continuously appear- 
ing, and until 1835, Horace Binney, John Sergeant and 
Joseph Hopkinson, the leaders of the second generation, 
held a prominent place in the great arguments before 
that court. 

With the growth of population, the establishment of 
new centers of industry and learning, the legal business 
of the country localized, and no city bar could gather to 
itself the litigation of a nation, but the Bar of Phila- 
delphia still maintained its high standard. 

At the end of the century as we look back at the 
galaxy who from 1830 to 1880 maintained the succession 
— the men at whose feet we sat — we understand how it 
has earned for the Philadelphia lawyer a name which 
opens for him with a welcome the doors of every court 
house from Maine to Oregon and Texas. 



i82 "The Philadelphia Lawyer." 

To the Bench and Bar of the jurisdictions gathered 
with us to-night, I tender the thanks of the Philadelphia 
lawyer for this welcome. 

The relations which have existed between the Seniors 
and Juniors of the Bar through these successive genera- 
tions have happily been most intimate. The accumulated 
wisdom and experience of years has been freely placed 
by the sages at the command of every eager aspirant. 
This tradition of true learning could never have been 
found in the books, and from it, and the habits of 
thought consequent, much of the distinction of this Bar 
has come. Mr. Binney gives testimony to it in his remi- 
niscences, saying : 

"A lawyer who has passed his youth and early man- 
hood in the society of such men is the happier for it 
through life, and especially in old age," 

We have heard from the older generation how in 
their youth Mr. Binney paid to his juniors the debt in- 
curred through his relations with what to him was the 
" Old Bar," and the great majority of those present here 
to-night have themselves the most vivid appreciation of 
my meaning, for the same debt was repaid to this genera- 
tion in the amplest measure by Judge John Cadwalader, 
George W, Biddle and Richard C. McMurtrie. 

The Philadelphia lawyer has had fame not only for 
learning. The traditions of the Bar have required every 
man who claims the name to recognize the obligations 
which membership in the profession entails. 

The Philadelphia lawyer, as he has been known, as 
we hope he will always be known, is the member of a 
profession, an officer of the law. The only service he 
undertakes is the service of the law. While there is no 
degree " Sergeant at Law," we claim to be servientes ad 
legem I We avouch our allegiance to one jealous mis- 
tress, and know no other master. Clients stand to us as 
they did in the days of ancient Rome, persons seeking 
our protection, but never entitled to command our actions. 



Remarks of Wu Ting-fang. 183 

They may require us to invoke the law in their aid ; they 
may never demand that we nulhfy any law for their 
advantage. Standing on this plane, we may be ever 
mindful of our oath of admission. 

"With all fidelity to the Court, as well as to the 
dient." 

I opened by saying the Philadelphia lawyer has the 
incentive of a great past. That there may be a great 
future is the cherished hope of every man here to-night. 
For the fulfillment of that hope we chiefly look to the 
school, which now enters upon a new era. The names 
of the great Philadelphia lawyers of the past have fittingly 
been identified with the new building. May we not antici- 
pate that their mantle will fall upon those to whom will 
be committed the name and fame of the Philadelphia 
lawyer for the century that is to come ? 

As the company was about to disperse, the toast- 
master called upon Mr. Wu Ting-Fang for a speech. 
Mr. Wu protested that it was not fair to ask him to 
address the company. Confucius, the great Chinese 
sage, had said that a person should not talk at dinner. 
Being a follower of Confucius, he felt himself bound to 
observe his doctrine, but, being a lawyer, and as the 
company were then smoking, and not eating, he sup- 
posed he would be justified in breaking silence. 

Mr. Wu then spoke for a few minutes, in his inimi- 
table style, and concluded by proposing the health of the 
toast-master ; after which the company dispersed. 



1 84 



Bar Dinner. 




DIAGRAM OF TABLES AND SEATS IN HORTICULTURAL HALL, 
SHOWING LOCATION OF GUESTS. 



Arrangement of Seats. 



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GUESTS ATTENDING THE BAR DINNER, WITH LOCATION 

OF SEA TS. 



APPENDIX. 



SPECIAL GUESTS. 

List of Special Guests of the University of Pennsylvania. 

His ExcELLfe^iCY Senor Don Manuel De Azpiroz, 

Ambassador of Mexico to United States, representing His 
Excellency Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico. 

Hon. John Marshall Harlan, 

Senior Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 

Sir Charles Arthur Roe, 
Oxford University, 

Hon. G. B. Finch, M.A., 

Cambridge University. 

His Excellency Wu Ting Fang, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from China 
to the United States. 

Hon. Oscar S. Straus, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from United 
States to Turkey. 

Hon. President Charles K. Adams, LL. D., 
University of Wisconsin. 

Dean James Barr Ames, LL.D,, 
Harvard University. 

Hon. President James B. Angell, LL. D. , 
University of Michigan. 

Dean Philip M. Bikle, Ph.D., 
Pennsylvania College. 

President William W. Birdsall, M.A., 
Swarthmore College. 

Hon. President Joseph H. Chamberlin, Litt.D., 
Marietta College. 

Chancellor Winfield S. Chaplin, LL.D., 

Washington University. ' 

President Thomas M. Drown, LL.D., 
Lehigh University. 

President Daniel C. Gilman, LL.D., 
Johns Hopkins University. 



1 90 Special Guests. 

President George E. Harris, D.D., LL.D., 
Amherst College. 

President John H. Harris, Ph.D., LL.D., 

Bucknell University. 
President George A. Harter, M.A., Ph.D., 

Delaware College. 

Chancellor W. J. Holland, LL.D., 

Western University of Pennsylvania. 

Chancellor Emlin McClain, LL.D., 
State University of Iowa. 

Chancellor Henry M. MacCracken, D.D., LL.D. 

New York University. 

President James D. Moffat, D.D., LL.D., 

Washington and Jefiferson College. 

Rev. President Francis L. Patton, D. L. ., LL.D. 
Princeton University. 

President George E. Reed, S.T.D., LL.D., 
Dickinson College. 

President Austin Scott, Ph.D., LL.D., 
Rutgers College. 

President Augustus ScHULTZE, D.D., 
Moravian College. 

President Theodore L. Seip, D. D., 
Muhlenberg College. 

President Isaac Sharpless, Sc.D. LL.D., 
Haverford College. 

President George W. Smith, D.D., LL.D., 
Trinity College. 

President Henry F. Spangler, D.D., 
Ursinus College. 

President John S. Stahr, Ph.D., D.D., 
Franklin and Marshall College. 

President E. D. Warfield, LL.D., 
Lafayette College. 

President Benaiah L. Whitman, D.D., LL.D., 
Columbian University, Washington, D. C. 



Special, Guests. 191 



President John D. Whitney, S. J., 
Georgetown University. 

Vice-Chance LLOR Benjamin L. Wiggins, M.A., 
University of the South. 



Dean Clarence D. Ashley, LL. D. , 

Representing Law Department, New York University 

Hon. Simeon' E. Baldwin, LL.D., 

Representing Law Faculty of Yale University, 

Dean Samuel C. Bennett, LL.B., 

Representing Law Faculty, Boston University. 

Dean W, S. Curtis, LL. B. , 

Representing Law School of Washington University. 

Hon. Henry E. Davis, LL. D., 

Representing Law Faculty of National University, Washington, 
D. C. 

Dean J. Newton Fiero, LL.D., 

Representing the Albany Law School. 

Prof. Charles Noble Gregory, M.A., LL.B., 

Representing the Law Faculty of the University of Wisconsin. 

Hon. Dean William F. Hunter, 

Representing the Law Faculty of Ohio University. 

Dean William A. Keener, LL.D., 

Representing the Law Faculty of Columbian University. 

Prof. William Minor Lile, B. L., 

Representing the Law Faculty of the University of Virginia. 

Hon. Martin F. Morris, LL.D., 

Representing Law Faculty of Georgetown University. 

Prof. Charles W. Needham, LL.D., 

Representing Law Faculty of Columbian University, Washington, 
D. C. 

Dean W. S. Pattee, LL.D., 

Representing Law Faculty, University of Minnesota. 

Prof. Cuthbert W. Pound, 

Representing Law Faculty, Cornell University. 

Hon. John D. Shafer, 

Representing Law Faculty of Western University of Pennsyl- 



192 Special Guests. 

Hon. James B. Thayer, LL.D. , 

Representing Law Faculty of Harvard University. 



Hon. Joseph Buffington, 

Judge of District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania. 
Hon. George Gray, 

Judge of Circuit Court, Third Circuit, Wilmington, Delaware. 
Hon. Andrew Kirkpatrick, 

Judge of District Court of the United States for the District of 
New Jersey. 

Hon. William H. Taft, 

Ex -Judge of the Circuit Court, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Hon. Henry Green, 

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Oliver Wendell Holmes, 

Judge of Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 
Hon. William J. Magie, 

Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey. 
Hon. Martin P. Grey, 

Vice Chancellor of New Jersey. 
Hon. S. Leslie Mestrezat, 

Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 
Hon. J. Brewster McCollum, 

Justice of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

Hon. J. Hay Brown, 

Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

Hon. James H. Nixon, 

Judge of Court of Errors and Appeals, New Jersey. 
Hon. Charles E. Rice, 

President Judge Superior Court of Pennsylvania. 
Hon. James A. Beaver, 

Judge of Superior Court of Pennsylvania. 
Hon. George B. Orlady, 

Judge of Superior Court of Pennsylvania. 
Hon. William D. Porter, 

Judge of Superior Court of Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Robert W. Archbald, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna 
County, Pennsylvania. 



Special Guests. 193 

Hon. a. V. Barker, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Cambria County, 
Pennsylvania, 

Hon. Oliver P, Bechtel, 

Judge Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Martin Bell, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Blair County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. Edward W. Biddle, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland 
County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Willis Bland, 

President Judge of Orphans' Court, Berks County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Allen Craig, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Carbon County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. R, L. Crawford, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Greene County 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. George S. Criswell, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Alfred Darte, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Lucien W. Doty, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Westmoreland 
County, Pennsylvania, 

Hon. Edwin M. Dunham, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Sullivan County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. p. M. Dunn, 

President Judge of Orphans' Court, Schuylkill County, Penn- 
sylvania. 
Hon. Henry M. Edwards, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County, Penn- 
sylvania. 
Hon Gustave A. Endlich, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Berks County, Pennsylvania. 



194 Special Guests. 

Hon. John A. Evans, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Robert Sellers Frazer, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. John M. Greer, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Butler County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. John M. Kennedy, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Charles I. Landis, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. Wilton M. Lindsey, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Warren and Forest 
Counties, Pennsylvania. 

Hon* John B. Livingston, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. J. H. Longenecker, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Bedford County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. John G. Love, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Centre County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. John Lynch, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Jeremiah Lyons, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Juniata and Perry 
Counties, Pennsylvnnia. 

Hon. Harold M. McClure, 

President of Court of Common Pleas, Union and Snyder Coun- 
ties, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. William A. Marr, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County, Penn- 
sylvania. 



Special Guests. 195 

Hon. Thomas A. Morrison, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, McKean County, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Hon. James M. Over, 

Judge of Orphans' Court, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. John W. Reed, 

President Judge Court of Common Pleas, Jefferson County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Edmund H. Reppert, 

President Judge Court of Common Pleas, Fayette County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. Clinton R. Savidge, 

President Judge Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland 
County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. W. W. Schuyler, 

President Judge Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Daniel M. Searle, 

President Judge Court of Common Pleas, Susquehanna County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. John W. Simonton, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. W. F. Bay Stewart, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, York County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Aaron S. Swartz, 

President of Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Samuel McC. Swope, 

President Judge of Court of CommonPleas, Adams County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. James F. Taylor, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Washington County, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Hon. Frank J. Thomas, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Crawford County, 
Pennsylvania. 



196 Special Guests. 

Hon. J. George Wadlinger, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. Emory A. Walling, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Erie County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. R. E. Umbel, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Henry K. Weand, 

Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Hon. John W. F. White, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. James S. Wilson, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Beaver County, 

Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Stanley Woodward, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County, 
Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Harman Yerkes, 

President Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania. 



Hon. E. a. Armstrong, 

Judge of Camden County Courts, New Jersey. 

Hon. Henry M. Clabaugh, 

Judge of Supreme Court of District of Columbia. 

Hon. Harry S. Douglas, 

Supreme Court Commissioner of Cape May Court House, New 
Jersey. 

Hon. Joseph M. Gaskill, 

Judge of Burlington County Courts, New Jersey. 

Hon. Charles G. Garrison, 

Judge of Supreme Court of New Jersey. 

Hon. Thomas J. Morris, 

Judge of District Court, Baltimore, Maryland. 

Hon. Thomas W. Trenchard, 

Judge of Cumberland County Court, New Jersey. 



Special Guests. 197 



Hon. Edmund Wetmore, 

President American Bar Association. 

Hon. Francis M. Finch, 

Representing the New York State Bar Association. 

Henry Page, Esq., 

President Maryland State Bar Association. 

John E. Parsons, Esq., 

Representing New York City Bar Association. 

Hon. John W. Griggs, 

Attorney General of the United States. 

James H. McKenney, Esq., 

Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States 

Hon. John R. Richards, Esq,, 

Solicitor General of the United States. 

Hon. John P. Elkin, 

Attorney General of Pennsylvania, 

Hon. John Prentiss Poe, 
Maryland. 

Hon. George M. Sharp, 
Maryland. 

James C. Carter, Esq., 
New York. 

Hon. John L. Cadwalader, 
New York. 

Austen G. Fox, Esq., 
New York. 

MooRFiELD Storey, Esq., 

Massachusetts. 

Hon. Anthony Higgins, 
Delaware. 

Everett P. Wheeler, Esq,, 
New York. 

Hon. William Pinckney Whyte, 
Maryland. 

Hon. James M. Woolworth, 
Nebraska. 



198 Special Guests. 

Baron Herman, 

Attache of German Embassy. 

RoLLO Ogden, Esq. , 
New York. 

Hon. Talcott Russell, 
Yale University. 

Hon. Nathan C. Schaeffer, 

Superintendent of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

James B. Wasson, Esq., 
New York. 
In addition to the above there were more than three thousand 
guests. 



Committees. 199 

Organizations Aiding in the Dedication of the 
Law School Building. 

The following organizations, through their respective 
committees, generously assisted in the reception and 
entertainment of the guests of the University: 

The Law Association of Philadelphia. 

COMMITTEE. 
Samuel Dickson, Chancellor. 
Joseph G. Rosencrarten, Silas W. Pettit, 

Richard L. Ash hurst, Angelo T. Freedley, 

John Cadvvalader, A. H. Wintersteen, 

Samuel W. Pennypacker, James M. Beck. 

The Law Academy of Philadelphia. 
COMMITTEE. 

William MacLean, Jr., Chairman. 
C. Wilfred Conard, John McClintock, Jr., 

Frederick S. Drake, Charles E. Perkins, 

Russell Duane, Fred Taylor Pusey, 

James F. Hagen, Horace M. Rumsey, 

Joseph H. Taulane. 

The Lawyers' Club of Philadelphia. 
COMMITTEE. 
Francis Shunk Brown, President. 
John R. Read, Alexander Simpson, Jr., 

William H. Staake, John C. Bell, 

P. F. Rothermel, Jr. , George Wharton Pepper, 

Edward P. Allinson, William Draper Lewis. 

The Pennsylvania Bar Association. 
COMMITTEE. 
Lyman D. Gilbert, President. 
Victor Guillou, P. C. Knox, 

William U. Hensel, Ward R. Bliss, 

Robert Snodgrass, Hampton L. Carson, 

John B. Colahan, Jr. , Walter George Smith. 



200 Committees. 

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 

COMMITTER 

Francis H. Williams, Chairman. 
J. Edward Carpenter, J. Granville Leach, 

William Brooke Rawle, Gregory B. Keen. 

The University Club of Philadelphia. 

COMMITTEE. 

Lewis C. Madeira, Chairman. 
Edward T. Johnson, Henry G. Bryant. 



Society of the Alumni of the Law^ Department of the 
University of Pennsylvania. 

COMMITTEE. 

Hon. William B. Hanna, President. 

W. Y. C. Anderson, Meredith Hanna, 

John C. Bell, Dilworth P. Hibberd, 

J. Douglass Brown, Jr., Harry S. Hopper, 

Reynolds D. Brown, Edmund Jones, 

Francis Chapman, Murdoch Kendrick, 

J. W. Coulston, Jr., Samuel C. Perkins, 

Russell Duane, Eli Kirk Price, 

H. L. Geyelin, Frank P. Prichard, 

Victor Guillou, William M. Stewart, 

Charles F. Gummey, Jr., Guy E. Wells. 



The General Alumni Society of the University of 
Pennsylvania. 

COMMITTEE. 

Samuel C. Perkins, Murdoch Kendrick, 

J. Douglass Brown, Jr., Eli Kirk Price, 

H. Laussat Geyelin. 



Committees. 



20I 



Reception Committee of the Philadelphia Bar. 



Hon. James T. Mitchell, 
Hon. William W. Porter, 
Hon. Craig Biddle, 
Hon. F. Amedee Bregy, 
Hon. Abraham M. Beitler, 
Hon. S. W. Pennypacker, 
Hon. Wm. W. Wiltbank, 
Hon. Charles B. McMichael, 
Hon. Michael Arnold, 
Hon. Robert N. Willson, 
Hon. Chas. Y. Audenried, 
Robert Adams, Jr. , 
James Alcorn, 
Robert Alexander, 
Francis J. Alison, 
Edward P. AlHnson, 
David W. Amram, 
Edward A. Anderson, 
William Y. C. Anderson, 
Pierce Archer, 
Richard L. Ashhurst, 
R. Loper Baird, 
Edwin Swift Balch, 
Thomas Willing Balch, 
John Hampton Barnes, 
N orris S. Barratt, 
Lewin W. Barringer, 
James M. Beck, 
Dimner Beeber, 
John C. Bell, 
Charles Biddle, 
H. Graham Bleakly, 
James R. Booth, 
Wendell P. Bowman, 
Henry C. Boyer, 
Henry K. Boyer, 
Samuel A. Boyle, 
Louis Bregy, 
Frank F. Brightley, 
Joseph Hill Brinton, 
Joseph J. Broadhurst, 
Robert C. H. Brock. 
John W. Brock, 
B. Gordon Bromley, 



P'rancis S. Brown, 
Henry C. Brown, 
William H. Browne, 
John C. Bullitt, 
William C. Bullitt, 
Charles H. Burr, Jr., 
Joseph H. Burroughs, 
Duncan L. Buzby, 
Robert J. Byron, 
John Cadwalader, 
Richard M. Cadwalader, 
W. Wilkins Carr, 
Charles Carver, 
Joseph W. Catharine, 
Henry S. Cattell, 
Samuel E. Cavin, 
Francis T. Chambers, 
Francis Chapman, 
S. Spencer Chapman, 
Charles Chauncey, 

B. Frank Clapp, 
Harry G. Clay, 
Ludovic C. Cleeman, 
Samuel M. Clement, Jr., 
J. B. Colahan, Jr., 
Edward Coles, 
Alexander P. Colesberry, 

C. Wilfred Conard, 
Samuel W. Cooper, 
George L. Crawford, 
Wm. B. Crawford, 
John P. Croasdale, 
T. DeWitt Cuyler, 
Charles P'. DaCosta, 
Richard C. Dale, 
Morris Dallett, 
Henry Darrach, 

G. Harry Davis, 
Henry M. Dechert, 
Joseph J. DeKinder, 
James A. Develin, 
Patrick F. Dever, 
Hazard Dickson, 
Alexander J. D. Dixon. 



202 



Committees. 



Edwin S. Dixon, 
Joseph I. Doran, 
D. Webster Dougherty, 
Walter C. Douglas, Jr., 
Frederick S. Drake, 
William Drayton, 
George Albert Drovin, 
Russell Duane. 
Ralph Wurtz Dundas, 
Chas. W. Edmunds, 
Henry R. Edmunds, 
Wm. T.Elliot. 
Wm. S. Ellis, 
Paul M. Elsasser, 
Isaac Elwell, 
Theodore M. Etting, 
Rowland Evans, 
Lincoln L. Eyre, 
Thomas A. Fahy, 
Chester N. Farr, Jr., 
. Hector T. Fenton, 
Wm. C. Ferguson, 
Thomas D. Finletter, 
Wm. Righter Fisher, 
Henry Flanders, 
Cyrus D. Foss, Jr., 
Wm. G. Foulke, 
John H. Fow, 
Joseph C. Fraley, 
Angelo T. Freedley, 
Charles W. Freedley, 
WiUiam S. Furst, 
Wm. H. Futrell. 
Allen H. Gangewer, 
H. E. Garsed, 
Thos. S. Gates, 
Jos. M. Gazzam, 
J. Howard Gendell, 
John S. Gerhard, 
H. Laussat Geyelin, 
J. McGregor Gibb, 
Joseph GilfiUan, 
Bernard Gilpin, 
James E. Gorman, 



Francis I. Gowen, 
George S. Graham, 
Simon Gratz, 
Chas. S. Greene, 
Jos. L. Greenwald, 
Warrren G. Griffith, 
Victor Guillou, 
Chas. Francis Gummey, 
James F. Hagen, 
Alfred R. Haig, 
Edmund G. Hamersly, 
Henry J. Hancock, 
Meredith Hanna, 
Thomas B. Harned, 
Avery D. Harrington, 
Albert H. Harris, 
Bernard Harris, 
W. C. Harris, 
William F. Harrity, 
Byerly Hart, 
Charles Henry Hart, 
W. Spence Harvey, 
Henry R. Hatfield, 
Chas. Heebner, 
Morton R Henry, 
Max Herzberg, 
Luther E. Hewitt, 
Charles F. Hinckle, 
Robert G. Hinckley, 
Robert H. Hinckley, 
Frank K. Hippie, 
Anthony A. Hirst, 
Edward F. Hoffman, 
James E. Hood, 
Edward Hopkinson, 
Joseph Hopkinson, 
Henry M. Hoyt, 
Charles Howson, 
Samuel B. Huey, 
J. Quincy Hunsicker, 
Samuel M. Hyneman,^ 
Charles E. Ingersoll, 
S. Stanger Iszard, 
Samuel T. Jaquett, 



Committees. 



203 



H. LaB. Jayne, 
Theodore F. Jenkins, 
Ovid F. Johnson, 
WilUam F. Johnson, 
Charles Henry Jones, 
J. Levering Jones, 
Charles B. Joy, 
Oliver B. Judson, 
George Junkin, 
Joseph DeF. Junkin, 
Francis F. Kane, 
John Kent Kane, 
J. Percy Keating, 
John F. Keator, 
Charles P. Keith, 
Murdock Kendrick, 
John L. Kinsey, 
Wm. Gray Knowles, 
M. Luther Kohler, 
Charles H. Krumbhaar, 
Charles A. Lagen, 
John G. Lamb, 
Jos. F. Lamorelle, 
J. Campbell Lancaster, 
Lucius S. Landreth, 
Edward V. Lansdale 
James W. Latta, 
J. Granville Leach, 
Thomas Leaming, 
Joseph Leedom, 
Frederick M. Leonard, 
Francis A. Lewis, 
Francis D. Lewis, 
Charles E. Lex, 
WiUiam H. Lex, 
Charles C. Lister, 
William E. Littleton, 
Malcolm Lloyd, Jr. 
James A. Logan, 
Dwight M. Lowrey, 
Benjamin H. Lowry, 
William H. Loyd, Jr., 
Franklin L. Lyle, 
John A. McCarthy, 



John McClintock, Jr. , 
H. Gordon McCouch, 
George McCurdy, 
Francis S. Mcllhenny, 
Thomas McKean, 
Wm. McLean, Jr. 
Wayne McVeagh, 
R. M. Magee, 
Edward W. MagiU, 
Andrew J. Maloney, 
J. Willis Martin, 
Robert D. Maxwell, 
S. Edwin Megargee, 
Leoni Melick, 
George G. Mercer, 
Peirce Mecutchen, 
James W. Mercur, 
William M. Meredith, 
John H. Merrill, 
James L. Miles, 
Alfred S. Miller, 
E. Spencer Miller, 
N. Dubois Miller, 
Philippus W. Miller, 
W. W, Montgomery, 
R. O. Mcon, 
C. E. Morgan, Jr., 
Edward M or tell, 
Effingham B. Morris, 
William Morris, 
William R. Murphey. 
Leonard Myers, 
William D. Neilson, 
H. S. P. Nichols, 
William L. Nevin, 
G. Heide Norris, 
J. Parker Norris, 
M. 3. O'Callaghan, 
S. Davis Page, 
Charles E. Pancoast, 
James Parsons 
John E. Parsons, 
T. Elliott Patterson, 
Robert E. Pattison, 



204 



Committees. 



J. Rodman Paul, 

George Peirce, 

Boies Penrose, 

Chas. E. Perkins, 

Edward L. Perkins, 

Samuel C. Perkins, 

Horace Pettit, 

Silas W. Pettit, 

H. H. Pigott, 

Henry Pleasants, 

Sheldon Potter, 

William Potter, 

Eli Kirk Price, 

Frank P. Prichard, 

Fred. Taylor Pusey, 

Robert Ralston, 

Francis Rawle, 

John R. Read, 

Theodore W. Reath, 

William A. Redding, 

Gustavus Remak, Jr., 

Walter E. Rex, 

E. Clinton Rhoads, 

Joseph R. Rhoads, 

John J. Ridgway, 

John H. Sloan, 

A. Lewis Smith, 

W. Rudolph Smith, 

Isaac N. Solis, 

John Sparhawk, Jr., 

John Thompson Spencer, 

William H. Staake, 

Wm. S. Stenger, 

William M. Stewart, Jr., 

James C. Stillwell. 

Theophilus B. Stork, 

Charles M. Swain, 

Joseph H. Taulane, 

Carter B. Taylor, 

Jos. T. Taylor, 

Henry C. Terry, 

Henry C. Thompson, Jr., 

Samuel Gustine Thompson, 

M. Hampton Todd, 



Chas. C. Townsend, 
Jos. B. Townsend, Jr.^ 
William Jay Turner, 
Ernest L. Tustin, 
Frank M. Riter, 
John Roberts, 
Thomas Robins, 
V. Gilpin Robinson, 
Walter C. Rodman, 
John I. Rogers, 
J. Mardn Rommel, 
P. F. Rothermel, Jr., 
Horace M. Rumsay, 
Michael J. Ryan, 
Frank R. Savidge, 
Joseph Savidge, 
Edward S. Sayres, 
Rudolph M. Schick, 
Henry J. Scott, 
John M. Scott, 
Edwin J. Sellers, 
James C. Sellers, 
George Sergeant, 
Rufus E. Shapley, 
Frank R. Shattuck, 
Albert B. Shearer, 
Charles P. Sherman, 
Edward Shippen, 
Fred. J. Shoyer, 
Robert N. Simpers, 
Thad. L. Vanderslice, 
George R. Van Dusen, 
George Vaux, Jr. , 
Moses Veale, 
George M. Wagner, 
Henry F. Walton, 
Charles F. Warwick, 
John Weaver, 
Albert S. Weimer, 
W. Nelson L. West, 
R. P. White, 
Chas. D. White, 
W. Rotch Wister, 
Otto Wolff. 



A, H. Wintersteen. 



Memorials and Inscriptions. 205 



MEMORIALS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE 
NEW BUILDING. 



On Saturday, November 4, 1899, the Joint Committee 
appointed for the purpose of selecting the names of men 
to be commemorated on the various medallions and 
shields on the outer walls of the Law School Building 
held its first meeting. This body was composed of the 
members of the Committee of the Board of Trustees on 
the Department of Law and Legal Relations and of the 
Committee of the Faculty of the Department of Law on 
the opening of the new building. The members of the 
Joint Committee who represented the Board of Trustees 
were : Mr. Samuel Dickson, the Chairman, Mr. John B. 
Gest, Mr. Samuel W. Pennypacker, Mr. Joseph G. Rosen- 
garten and Mr. Walter George Smith. Mr. George Whar- 
ton Pepper, Mr. Hampton L. Carson and Mr. WiUiam 
Draper Lewis represented the Faculty of the Department 
of Law. Lists of names of men to be commemorated, 
and plans of distribution and situation were submit- 
ted by several members of the Committee. After a 
number of meetings and a mature discussion of these 
suggestions, it was determined to request the Provost 
to submit the several lists and plans to the Honorable 
John L Clark Hare, Emeritus Professor of Law in the 
University. Subsequently Judge Hare submitted a list 
of names designating in what medallions and shields 
they should be carved and the order in which they 
should come, which list was adopted by the Committee 
with but slight alterations. 

The following names were carved upon the 
medallions and shields which ornament the exterior of 
the new building. 



2o6 Memorials and Inscriptions. 

ON THE THIRTY-FOURTH STREET FRONT. 

In the three Southern medallions, running South to 
North:— 

BLACKSTONE KENT MANSFIELD 

In the three Southern shields, running- South to North:- 
MADISON HAMILTON WEBSTER 

In the three Northern shields, running South to North:- 
QIBSON TILQHMAN BINNEY 

In the three Northern medallions, running South to 
North: — 

STORY MARSHALL TANEY 



ON THE CHESTNUT STREET FRONT. 

In the central medallion: — 

VATTEL 

In the central (Western) shield: — 

STOWELL 

In the central (Eastern) shield: — 

QROTIUS 

In the three Eastern shields, running E^t to West: — 

BLACKBURN FIELD BRADLEY 

In the three Western shields, running East to West: — 
ELDON HARDWICKE JESSEL 



Memorials and Inscriptions. 207 

ON THE 5ANS0M STREET FRONT. 

In the central medallion above the Sansom Street 
entrance: — 

EDWARD I. 

In the central (Eastern) shield: — 

COKE 

In the central (Western) shield: — 

BRACTON 

In the three Eastern medallions, running from E^t to 

West:— 

HOLT CAHDEN HALE 

In the three Western medallions, running from West to 

East: — 

TRIBONIAN JUSTINIAN QREGORIUS 



ON THE WESTERN WALL. 



In the three medallions of the South wing, running from 
North to South:— 

QAIUS PAPINIAN ULPIAN 

In the three medallions of the North wing, running from 
North to South: — 

POTHIER DOrtAT SAVIQNY 



208 



Memorials and Inscriptions 



On the shield South of the main entrance is the following 
inscription: — 



LAW 
DEPARTMENT 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY 

FIRST PROFESSOR 

JAMES WILSON 

1790 



On the shield North of the Main entrance 



LAW 
DEPARTMENT 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY 

REORGANIZED BY 

GEORGE SM ARSWOOD 

1850 



Memorials and Inscriptions. 209 



The following are copies of memorial tablets and 
inscriptions throughout the interior of the building : — 

ON THE FIRST FLOOR. 

On the Western wall of Price Hall, a tablet in bronze : — 



PRICE HALL 

ERECTED IN MEMORY 
OP 

ELI KIRK PRICE, LL. D. 

A TRUSTEE OF THE UNIVERSITY 

1869-1884 

President of the University Hospital 

1879-1884 

AND OF HIS SON 

JOHN SERGEANT PRICE 

President of the Central Committee 

OF THE 
ALUMNI OF THE UNIVERSITY 

1882=1897 

President of the Society of the Aluhni 

OF the 

DEPARTMENT OF LAW 

1890-1897 



2IO Memorials and Inscriptions. 

On the Western wall of Wharton Hall a tablet in bronze: — 



THIS ROOM IS 


DEDICATED 


TO THE MEMORY OF j 


GEORGE 


M. 


WHARTON 




1806-1870 



ON THE SECOND FLOOR. 

A tablet in plaster on the South wall of McKean Hall 
above the centre of the stack room entrance : — 



THIS ROOM IS DEDICATED 
TO THE MEMORY OF 

THOMAS McKEAN 

CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA 
1777-1799 



A tablet in plaster on the North wall of Sharswood 
Hall above the centre of the stack room entrance : — 



THIS ROOM IS DEDICATED 
TO THE MEMORY OF 

GEORGE SHARSWOOD 

CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA 

1878-1882 



Memorials and Inscriptions. 211 



A tablet in plaster on the west wall of McMurtrie 
Hall above central door of the stack room : — 



THIS ROOM !S DEDICATED 
TO THE MEMORY OF 

RICHARD C. McMURTRIE 

CHANCELLOR OF THE 

LAW ASSOCIATION OF PHILADELPHIA 

1891=1894 



A tablet in bronze set into the floor of the stack 
room at the main entrance to the Biddle Law Library : — 



THIS LIBRARY WAS FOUNDED IN 1886 
IN MEMORY OF 

GEORGE BIDDLE 

AND CONTINUED IN 1891 IN MEMORY OF 

ALGERNON SYDNEY BIDDLE 

AND IN 1897 OF 

ARTHUR BIDDLE 

THE THREE SONS OF 

GEORGE W. BIDDLE 

THEY DIED BEFORE THEIR FATHER, HAVING LIVED 

AS BECAME THEIR HIGH CALLING OF THE LAW, 

TRUTH, COURAGE, HONOUR, LOVE AND DUTY THEIR GUIDES. 



212 



Memorials and Inscriptions, 



On the walls of the central hall are seven tablets, of 
Tennessee marble. The inscriptions on these are as 
follows : — 



JAMES WIL50N 
1742-1798 




JOHN SERGEANT 
1779-1853 



WILLIAM M. MEREDITH 
1799-1873 



ROBERT COOPER GRIER 

1794=1870 



ST GEORGE TUCKER CAMPBELL 

1814-1874 




GEORGE W. BIDDLE 

1818-1897 



JAMES E. GOWEN 

1830-1885 



Upon the four walls above the main staircase are 
inscribed these words : — 

THE LAW IS UNKNOWN TO HIH THAT KNOWETH NOT 
THE REASON THEREOF, AND THE KNOWNE CERTAINTIE 
OF THE LAW IS THE SAFTIE OF ALL:— COKE. 




JAMKS WII^SON, IvIy.D. 

First Professor of I<aw. 

From the Original, Painted by Albert Rosenthal for the Law School in i8gg, from a minature in possession of 

Tlwmas H. Montgomery. 



HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LAW. 

COMPILED BY 
MARGARET CENTER KLINGELSMITH. 

The old academy of Philadelphia was restored to all 
its rights and privileges by the Act of 1789, and among 
the students an association was formed for the study of 
the law. They were without a teacher or any regular 
course of study, but had attracted to themselves the 
notice of the trustees of the Academy by a request that 
they might hold their meetings in one of the rooms of the 
college. This request, made in 1789, was granted, and 
the fact that a regular course in the study of the law was 
needed became manifest. Mr. Charles Smith, editor of the 
edition of the early laws of Pennsylvania, now known as 
Smith's Laws, applied to the trustees of the college for an 
appointment to a professorship of the law in that institu- 
tion. A few days after the communication was received 
it was decided to present to the monthly meeting, among 
other matters, " An application for a law professorship, 
the propriety of establishing a Law Lecture, and con- 
ferring degrees in law." A committee was appointed 
consisting of Messrs. Shippen, Wilson and Hare, who 
reported a plan said to have been drawn up by Mr. 
Wilson. This plan was accepted by the trustees, and 
upon it the foundations of the school were laid. It cer- 
tainly cannot be criticised as too narrow. It placed before 
the minds of those who were to establish and carry on the 
work a wide and high ideal. The plan in full was as fol- 
lows : "The object of a system of law in this country 
should be to explain the Constitution of the United 
States, its parts, its powers and distribution, and the 
operation of those powers ; to ascertain the merits of that 
Constitution by comparing it with the Constitution of 
other states, with the general principles of government, 



2 14 HiSTOKY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF Law. 

and with the rights of men ; to point out the spirit, the 
design and the probable effects of the laws and the trea- 
ties of the United States ; to mark particularly and dis- 
tinctly the rules and decisions of the federal courts in 
matters both of law and practice. 

" To examine legally, critically and historically the 
constitutions and laws of the several states of the Union ; 
to compare those constitutions and laws with one another, 
and with the general rules of law and government ; to 
investigate the nature, the properties and the extent of 
that connection which subsists between the federal gov- 
ernment and the several states, and, of consequence, 
between each of the states and all the others. 

" To illustrate the genius, the elements, the originals, 
and the rules of the common law, in its theory and its 
practice, to trace as far as possible that law to its founda- 
tion, its fountains, to the laws and customs of the Nor- 
mans, the Saxons, the Britons, the ancient Germans, the 
Romans, and perhaps in some instances the Grecians. 

" Under this head it is to be observed that the com- 
mon law, in its true extent, includes the law of nations, 
the civil law, the maritime law, the law merchant, and the 
law too of each particular country, in all cases in which 
those laws are peculiarly applicable. All the foregoing 
subjects of discussion should be contrasted with the prac- 
tice and institutions of other countries. They should be 
fortified by reasons, by examples and by authorities ; and 
they should be weighed and appreciated by the precepts 
of natural and revealed law. 

" The obvious design of such a plan is to furnish a 
rational and an useful entertainment to gentlemen of all 
professions, and in particular to assist in forming the leg- 
islator, the Magistrate and the * Lawyer.' " 

It was resolved that a professorship of law be estab- 
lished whose incumbent should deliver twenty-four lec- 
tures each year. James Wilson was elected by unanimous 
choice to be the professor to occupy the newly created 



History of the Department of Law. 2 1 5 

chair. It is not known if any action was taken by the 
trustees in regard to the offer of Mr. Smith. It has been 
claimed that much injustice was done him by this appar- 
ent neglect, but as there are no records to appeal to in 
the case it seems impossible to substantiate or refute the 
charge. The choice of James Wilson certainly seems to 
have been a most wise one. A recent writer (Francis 
Newton Thorpe) says of him : 

" Of all the men chosen to make the national Consti- 
tution, he was the only one who understood and advo- 
cated the national idea as it has been understood and 
advocated since the Civil War. His place in the evolu- 
tion of American democracy has been but slightly recog- 
nized and his just fame has been delayed. There were 
more popular men in the Convention than he, and at 
least a score then more famed. In the old Congress he 
had constantly advocated a more perfect Union, but his 
services there, like those of many others, were obscured 
by the waning influence of the Articles. He was known 
to the leaders of thought in the country, but his reputa- 
tion among the people was limited almost wholly to those 
of the city in which he lived. Even his later distinguished 
career as Professor of Law in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania is now quite forgotten. If a man's greatness is 
commensurate with the value of his ideas to mankind, 
the national ideas advanced and advocated by Wilson 
place him among the most eminent Americans of the 
eighteenth century and entitle him to the veneration of 
his countrymen." 

The statement, that his career as Professor of Law 
in the University is forgotten, is slightly exaggerated, as 
in the Department which he founded his memory is highly 
honored and deeply respected ; his portrait hangs in the 
most prominent place which can be given to it, and all who 
are conversant with the history of the Department know 
of its founder and the work he did. 

Great expectations were aroused by the announcement 



2i6 History of the Department of Law. 

that he would open the course of lectures December 15th, 
1790, in the hall of the Academy, which was then situ- 
ated on Fourth street below Arch. This hall occupied 
the entire width of the building and was about ninety- 
feet in length ; across the south end there was a gallery, 
and the rostrum was against the north wall over the stair- 
way. Unless the gallery was larger than can reasonably 
be supposed the, " citizen " of that day must have been 
almost entirely excluded from attendance upon the inter- 
esting event, as the advertisement of the lecture which 
appeared in the " Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Adver- 
tiser" of December 15th, 1790, ran as follows: — 

" College of Philadelphia, Wednesday, Dec. 15. Law 
Lecture. The Honorable Judge Wilson's Introductory 
Lecture will be delivered this evening at six o'clock in 
the College Hall. Those citizens who have received tick- 
ets of admission from Mr. Wilson are requested to take 
their seats in the gallery, it being necessary to appropri- 
ate the lower part of the Hall to the accommodation of 
Congress and other Public Bodies who are cordially in- 
vited. 

By order of the Board of Faculty, 

William Rogers, Secretary." 
The reservation would seem, however, to have been 
necessary, as President Washington with Mrs. Washington 
attended the lecture, as did the members of the cabinet, the 
Houses of Congress, the executive and legislative depart- 
ments of the State of Pennsylvania and the city of Phila- 
delphia ; the judges of the courts and the members of 
the bar, with many of the women who led the brilliant 
society of the little capitol. It was a most fashionable 
audience which awaited the modest lecturer, who seemed 
somewhat startled to find himself the center of a brilliant 
society occasion when he had anticipated only an assem- 
bly of sober persons prepared to listen to a quiet homily 
upon the law. He was equal to the occasion, however, 





the; academy— 1790-1S02. 



" PRKSIDHXTIAl, AIAXSION"— NINTH AND CHESTNUT 
STREETS. 1802-1829. 






-. '^jf^ ^■ 







3. -^ 



f 



RTS BUIEDING— NINTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS. 
1829-1873. 




COLLEGE HALL— 1873-1888. 







QUARTERS IN GIRARD BUILDING— 1888-1895. 




"CONGRESS HALL"— 1890-1900. 



HOMES OF THE LAW SCHOOL 1 790-1900. 



N 



History of the Department of Law, 217 

and his lecture was received with much appreciation and 
was frequently quoted in the literature of the times. 

In his struggle to cover the ground he himself had 
outlined, his lectures became rather dissertations upon 
law than an attempt to teach the law in its more technical 
acceptation. Philosophical and elegant, they were well 
adapted to interest the minds that he found around him, 
and it may be questioned if he did not give to his students 
mental food as well fitted to strengthen their minds as much 
of that which they receive under the very different methods 
which obtain to-day. This first course, as outlined, was 
to cover three years, the lectures were delivered on three 
days of every week at six o'clock, p. m., and there were 
law exercises every Saturday. The first course was car- 
ried to a successful conclusion but the second course was 
not finished. It has been suggested that the small attend- 
ance caused by the required fee of ten guineas was the 
cause. However that may be the course was not con- 
cluded, and, although after the union of the college with 
the University, by a resolution of April 3, 1792, the trustees 
created a professorship of law and appointed Mr. Wil- 
son to occupy the chair, the lectures were not delivered. 
Owing to the unfinished nature of the course no degrees 
were conferred during the incumbency of Judge Wilson. 
He died in 1 798 at the age of fifty-six, after a career full 
of honors honorably gained. 

From 1 79 1 to 181 7 the statute of the University de- 
claring that " there shall be a professorship of law " was a 
dead letter. No such professor was appointed, and we 
find no resolution asking for one nor any attempt to re- 
vive the lectureship until January 7, 18 17, when the fac- 
ulty resolved to receive at the next stated meeting of the 
Board nominations for the professorship of law. No 
action was taken, however, until March 17, 181 7, when 
the trustees elected Charles Willing Hare, Esq., profes- 
sor. He delivered his introductory lecture in April of 
that year. At that time the University was occupying 



2i8 History of the Department of Law. 

the site on Ninth street, between Market and Chestnut 
streets, to which it had removed in 1 802 after outgrowing- 
the old quarters on Fourth street. The building on Ninth 
street was an imposing structure which had been destined 
by its builders for the dwelling of the President of the 
United States when it was supposed that Philadelphia 
was to remain the capital of the country. It was a build- 
ing of much greater pretensions than the little old Acad- 
emy in which James Wilson delivered his lectures, but 
Philadelphia was no longer the capital and could not fur- 
nish to the lecturer so brilliant an assembly of distinguished 
listeners. 

The first course, as outlined by Mr. Hare, was upon 
" Natural Jurisprudence, or the science of right and wrong 
as discovered by human reason, compared with, illustrated, 
by, and embodied in the law." The second upon "Inter- 
national Jurisprudence, or the laws which regulate the 
intercourse of nations, the elements of sovereignty, the 
different forms of government, and particularly the theory 
and practice of the constitutions of the United States and 
of the State of Pennsylvania," and the third was upon the 
"Jurisprudence of the United States and of Pennsylvania, 
as distinguished from the common law of England." 
Unfortunately the elaborate outline remained an outline 
only. The first course only was given, this being delivered 
during the season of 181 7-18. Before the second course 
could be delivered Mr. Hare became incapacitated for 
further mental work, and thus for the second time circum- 
stances prevented the completion of plans brilliant in their 
conception, the execution of which was begun with zeal 
and intelligence, promising much for the development of 
legal education in the United States. 

For some time no further attempts were made to re- 
vive the lectureship which had been twice so quickly cut 
short. Doubtless there was much unexpressed and un- 
organized desire for legal instruction, and indeed in 1832 
there was a most vigorous petition for the appointment 



History of the Department of Law. 219 

of a professor of law which was presented to the trustees 
by a committee of the Law Academy of Philadelphia. 
This institution had doubtless in a degree taken the place 
of a regular law school by providing, through its moot 
courts and meetings, facilities for the contactof the Judges 
and the older members of the bar with the younger mem- 
bers and the students registered in the various offices. 
Fostering thus a desire to secure training in the law it is 
not strange that a petition from such a body should 
strongly set forth the fact that the city was sadly deficient 
in those advantages which were already given to the law 
student at Harvard, Yale and the University of Virginia. 
The resolution follows : 

"Law Academy. Philadelphia, March 6, 1832. — The 
Petition of the Law Academy of Philadelphia to the Hon- 
orable, the Board of Trustees of the University of Penn- 
sylvania : soliciting the appointment of a Professor to the 
Chair of Legal Science in that Institution, respectfully 
sets forth in advancement of its object the following con- 
siderations : 

" ist. That the Professorship of Law which receives so 
much attention at Harvard, Yale and the University of Vir- 
ginia, and whose connection with those seats of learning 
sheds so much lustre over their names, is at present neg- 
lected in the University of Pennsylvania; and that while her 
Medical School is annually sending forth accomplished 
and valuable physicians, while her Collegiate Department 
is disseminating the principles of sound learning in Science 
and in Literature, her Chair of Law, once illustrated by 
the genius and eloquence of a Wilson and a Hare, is un- 
occupied. 

" 2d. The important advantages will accrue to the 
Institution over which your Honorable Body presides, of 
a nature which it is humbly conceived cannot be over- 
looked. I. In extending the reputation of the University, 
already so deservedly pre-eminent among her sister Insti- 
tutions. 2. In drawing to Halls students in a new depart- 
ment of science, and 3. In retaining at home those who 
now seek elsewhere that peculiar mode of instruction to 
which our City does not aflford access. 

"3d. That the location of a professorship of the nature 



220 History of the Department of Law. 

petitioned for in a City like Philadelphia is peculiarly 
favorable to the promotion of its active and sensible use- 
fulness; — for the numerous Courts of Justice — the extensive 
Libraries — the many learned and competent preceptors 
in Law which it affords, are all so many superior advan- 
tages which are unattainable elsewhere. And 4th, That 
the number of Law Students, residents of the City alone, 
is, in all probability, amply sufficient to offer an induce- 
ment to your honorable body to make the appointment 
prayed for. 

" In submitting the considerations upon which they 
base their prayer, they beg leave to remain 

" Your most obedient servants. 

J. Pringle Jones, H. R. Kneass, ~| 

C. Theodore Potts, Wm. D. Baker. V Committee.'* 

L Wistar Wallace, j 

While the men who gathered in the court rooms 
of Philadelphia were the acknowledged leaders of the 
legal world of the day, they were inclined to undervalue 
the merits of a system of training which they had not 
undergone. They reasoned that the equipment which 
had been sufficient to win for them such brilliant victories 
should be all that was needed to guarantee success to 
their sons. It took another generation at least to con- 
vince the members of the legal profession of Philadelphia 
that this was a mistake. 

Seventeen years passed after this fruitless petition, 
and the lectureship in law seemed destined never to be 
revived, but in 1849 the trustees, apparently awakened to 
the fact that not enough was being done for the under- 
graduate in the University, passed the following resolu- 
tion : — " that the Committee on the government of the 
College be instructed to consider and report whether any 
change can be advantageously made in the course of 
studies for undergraduates, or any additional facilities 
provided for securing lectures which shall be open to the 
public on subjects not embraced in our present course of 
study, and also to consider and report what may be 
deemed useful in connection with these subjects." 



History of the Department of Law. 221 

It is evident that those who were desirous of 
establishing a Law School had been active and had made 
themselves heard, since, after hearing the report of the Com- 
mittee, consisting of Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll, Mr. Breck, 
Mr. Kuhn, Rev. Dr. Dorr and Bishop Potter, which was pre- 
sented on March 5, 1850, it was resolved that a professor of 
law should be elected at the next stated meeting, and 
that nominations should then be received. George Shars- 
wood, then a Judge of the District Court of Philadelphia, 
was nominated for the position, and on April 2d, he was 
duly elected. After a month of deliberation he accepted 
the nomination on May 7th. His first lecture was not 
delivered until September 30, 1850. This date must be 
held by all interested in the Law School as the most im- 
portant in its history, even if we do not grant, as some 
maintain, that this is the true birth date of the Depart- 
ment. At last the recognition so long denied was awarded 
to the lectures on the law ; men in active practice mingled 
with the undergraduate in the lecture room, and the inter- 
est and enthusiasm aroused are shown by the resolutions 
which the class addressed to the trustees. 

" Resolved, That in the re-establishment of the Law 
Professorship of this University the trustees have con- 
ferred a substantial benefit upon the Philadelphia Bar. 
Resolved, That the series of lectures delivered during the 
present term by Professor Sharswood have been listened 
to by the class with equal pleasure and profit, and have 
been marked by a sound, practical, useful and liberal 
character eminently designed to aid the practitioner in 
his daily professional duties. Resolved, That the thanks 
of the class are justly due to Professor Sharswood for the 
faithful, laborious and effective discharge of his duties." 

The feeling which those who shared in the pleasure 
and instruction given by these lectures, still express when 
speaking of them to-day, proves that this was no mere per- 
functory address — a form which it was proper to follow — 



222 History of the Department of Law. 

but that it was the earnest and spontaneous expression of 
a feeling both deep and sincere. 

The Law School was now established upon a secure 
basis, and its growth was assured, but it had as yet but one 
professor. The growth was so rapid, however, as to make 
it necessary to increase the number of professorships. In 
December, 1851, the trustees passed a resolution asking 
that the Committee on Government of the College inquire 
and report as to the expediency of extending the Law 
School so as to embrace one or more additional pro- 
fessorships. The report which the Committee submitted 
was not at once accepted, but after some delays and much 
discussion it was adopted on May 4, 1852. By this plan, 
not one, but two, professors were added, making a faculty 
of law consisting of three professors. A Professor of the 
Institutes of Law ; a Professor of Practice and Pleading at 
Law^ and in Equity, and a Professor of the Law of Real 
Estate Conveyancing and Equity Jurisprudence. 

On June i, 1852, Judge Sharswood was elected to fill 
the chair of the Institutes ; the chair of Practice was filled by 
Peter McCall, Esq., and the chair of Real Estate and Equity 
by E. Spencer Miller, Esq. Rules were established for the 
regulation of the School. A scholastic year of two terms 
of four months each was provided for, and any student 
attending at least four terms with each professor was en- 
titled, upon recommendation of the Faculty, to the degree 
of Bachelor of Laws. A certificate of proficiency might 
be given to a student attending the lectures of one or two 
of the professors. As each professor regulated his own 
courses of instruction, held moot courts and conducted his 
own examinations, each course was given a certain inde- 
pendence which rendered this method possible. The 
student was required to matriculate, but no fee was re- 
quired for this. The fee to each professor was fixed at ten 
dollars a term. The courses undertaken by the first two 
professors in 1790 and 18 17, while both planned to lead 
to a degree, had neither of them lived long enough to 





'mlW 




GEORGE SHARSWOOD. 

1810-1883. 

Re-organized Law Department in 1850. 

From Original Painting in Laiv School Building 



History of the Department of Law. 223 

confer one upon any student, so it was not until after the 
reorganization, more than half a century after the de- 
livery of the first law lecture, that any degrees were con- 
ferred July 2, 1852, the first public commencement of 
the Law School was held, and then were conferred the 
first degrees ; those who had entered in 1850 thus receiv- 
ing the first fruits of the revival of the School. 

The Faculty afterwards were given permission to 
grant a degree after two consecutive terms had been at- 
tended, thus reducing the required time to eight months. 
This was seen to be an unwise provision, quite contrary 
to the direction in which the thought of the time was 
tending, and the permission was revoked. 

The Court of Common Pleas for the county of Phil- 
adelphia and the District Court adopted rules which 
admitted the time passed in the Law Department as equiv- 
alent to the usual two years in an office under the direction 
of a practicing attorney. Persons admitted to practice in 
those courts were also admitted at once to the Supreme 
Court of the State. It was still requisite to register hi 
an office, however, and the custom was very long in 
dying out. Up to the last years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury it was usual to hear the students speaking of " my 
preceptor." 

Students were not examined before matriculation, 
and it was thought not to be " possible to require, per- 
emptorily, a college degree, or any previous line of 
study." The lecture system, at that time the only method 
for inculcating the principles of the law practiced in any 
law school, was of course established, but moot courts 
and frequent examinations were held to supplement and 
buttress as it were the structure built up on the simple 
lines allowed by that system. Students were also admitted 
to membership in the Law Academy where they gained 
an insight into the practice of courts, especially of the 

trial by jury. 

Those students who received degrees were entitled 



224 History of the Department of Law. 

to attend all future lectures free of charge. A room in 
the University Building was set apart for the use of the 
law students, but there was no law library and the gen- 
eral library of the University was only open for two 
hours each day, being in charge of the Professor of Belles 
Lettres. 

For the next ten years the course of the school was 
smooth and unbroken ; Judge Sharswood remained Dean, 
and the two professors retained their chairs, teaching with 
great faithfulness and success their respective branches. 
The first break in the ranks of the professors was made 
by the resignation of Professor McCall, June 5, i860. 
While his resignation was accepted, it was with regret, 
and considerable delay occurred in securing a successor. 
Mr. McCall was asked to continue to fill the chair until 
his successor was chosen, but he was unable to agree to 
this. Hon. J. I. Clark Hare, Mr, Henry Wharton, and Mr. 
P. Pemberton Morris, were nominated for the place, but 
were not elected, and in October, 1862, Mr. P. Pember- 
ton Morris was asked to act temporarily in Mr. McCall's 
place. In November, 1862, Mr. Morris was elected to fill 
the chair. The Civil War now began to make its effects 
felt in the decreased attendance upon colleges all over the 
land. The attendance at the Law School, which had risen 
in 1860-61 to seventy-one, fell, in 1861-62, to forty-seven 
In 1863-4 it increased to sixty-two, but remained under 
seventy until 1875-6, when a total of ninety-two was regis- 
tered. 

In 1868, after eighteen years of service, Judge Shars- 
wood resigned his position as Dean and lecturer. He 
had just been elected an associate justice of the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania. His letter to the trustees expressed 
regret in laying down his duties and the pleasure he had 
always found in fulfilling them. The regret was more 
than shared by the trustees. His loss was severely felt 
in the Law School, the attendance dropping from sixty- 
three in 1868-69, to forty-nine in 1869-70. 



History of the Department of Law. 225 

Professor E. Spencer Miller was elected Dean in Judge 
Sharswood's place, and Hon. J. I. Clark Hare was elected 
to the chair of the Institutes of Law. 

During these years the Law School had remained, in 
common with the other departments of the University, in 
the old building on Ninth street. The United States, 
however, purchased the building in 1872 for the purpose 
of placing upon it a new post office building. Much 
disicussion ensued in regard to the policy which should be 
pursued in making a change of location. Mr. Miller, him- 
self actively engaged in professional practice, opposed the 
plan for removing the Law School with all the other de- 
partments to West Philadelphia. At that time it was 
very strongly held that the law courts were the proper 
schools for the students of law ; that to remove these 
students so far from the courts would be to deprive them 
of the benefits which Philadelphia was thought to be 
peculiarly fitted to present in her many courts, in her dis- 
play of legal talents shown in legal argument and the 
skilled conduct of cases, which the student was expected 
to study as vivid and long to be remembered object les- 
sons. The contrary opinion prevailed and it was decided 
to remove the school to West Philadelphia where a 
beautiful location had been secured near the river and 
where large buildings were being prepared. Mr. Miller's 
resignation followed (June 4, 1872,) closely upon this 
decision, and was accepted with expressions of apprecia- 
tion of his ability and learning, and of the great service 
he had rendered the department while at its head. His 
term of service had been for a period of twenty years, thus 
being longer than that of Judge Sharswood by two years. 
He was called by his successor " the clearest and best law 
teacher which our Bar has produced." 

The new building was ready for students September 
16, 1872, and formally dedicated October 11, but the Law 
School remained in the building on Ninth street, the lec- 
tures being held in the trustees room of that building, for 



226 History of the Department of Law. 

the season of 1872-73. The season of 1873-74 the Paine 
Building, on Ninth street, south of Locust, was leased by 
the University, and used by both the Law and Medical 
Departments. 

A number of nominations were made for the vacant 
position. E. Coppee Mitchell, W, M. Tilghman, G. Tucker 
Bispham, James Parsons, Richard L. Ashhurst and Henry 
Wharton, being the nominees. E. Coppee Mitchell was 
appointed temporary lecturer in October to fill the chair 
until the close of that term. Mr. Mitchell was appointed 
in June, 1873, for the second term, and in April, 1873, 
he was elected Professor of the Law of Real Estate and 
Conveyancing and Equity Jurisprudence. 

It was now felt that in order to increase the efficiency 
of the institution the teaching force must again be enlarged. 
Many plans were proposed and much discussion took 
place. The standing committee on the Department of 
Law for the year 1873, of which Judge Sharswood was 
chairman and Alexander Henry, Eli K. Price, Peter Mc- 
Call and N. B. Brown were members, submitted a plan 
and on January 6, 1874, the Board of Trustees reorgan 
ized the Department. The following is the plan as finally 
adopted : — 

"There shall be instituted two new Professorships, one to be called of 
Personal Relations and Personal Property, and the other of Medical 
Jurisprudence. The Faculty shall then be composed as follows: 

'• I. A Professor of the Institutes of Law, to whom shall be assigned 
the subjects of International Law, Constitutional Law, Conflict of 
Laws, Criminal Law, Contracts, including Promissory Notes and 
Bills of Exchange, Suretyship and Guaranty. 

"2. A Professor of Personal Relations and Personal Property, to whom 
shall be assigned the subjects of Personal Relations, Corporations, 
Agency, Partnership, Insurance, Title to Personal Property, Con- 
tracts of Sale, Bills of Lading, Bailment, Common Carriers, Pledges 
and Chattel Mortgages, Executors and Administrators. 

"3. A Professor of Real Estate, Conveyancing, and Equity Jurispru- 
dence, to whom these subjects shall be assigned. 



History of the Department of Law. 227 

"4. A Professor of Practice, Pleading, and Evidence at Law and in 
Equity, to whom these subjects shall be assigned. 

"5. A Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, to whom that subject shall 
be assigned. 

"There shall be two terms in each year, from October to January and 
from February to May inclusive. The full course shall be two 
years; each Professor shall arrange the subjects committed to him 
in such order as he may deem most expedient, and the same 
shall be published in the Catalogue. 

"Attendance upon the full course (except the Lectures of the Professor 
of Medical Jurisprudence) shall be necessary to obtain the Degree 
of Bachelor of Laws. The fee for attendance upon the Lectures of 
the Professors (except the Professor of Medical Jurisprudence) 
shall be determined by them, shall be paid to the Dean of the 
Faculty, and divided by him among the said four Professors in 
the proportion of the number of Lectures delivered by each re- 
spectively. 

"Anyone of the Professors, including the Professor of Medical Juris- 
prudence, may issue tickets for his own course alone for such fee 
as he shall determine. 

"Examinations, moot courts, and other exercises to be in the discretion 
of the Professors respectively. 

"A hall shall be assigned for the exclusive use of the Law Department 
in the University Building by the Committee on Buildings in con- 
junction with the Committee on the Law Department, where the 
Lectures shall be delivered, which hall shall be open for the use of 
the students for the purpose of pursuing their studies in private, at 
such hours and under such regulations as the Law Faculty shall 
determine." 

The stereotyped announcement of the Law Depart- 
ment which had scarcely changed in form for over twenty 
years, at last altered its phraseology and gave signs that 
new life had been infused into the old system. Mr. James 
Parsons was elected in February, 1874, to the chair of 
Personal Relations and Personal Property; that of Medical 
Jurisprudence being filled at the same time by the elec- 
tion of Mr. John J. Reese, M. D., who was Professor of 
Medical Jurisprudence and Toxology in the Auxiliary 
Department of Medicine. This latter course, not being 
made necessary to the attainment of a degree, suffered 



228 History of the Department of Law. 

as all courses must which are regarded as simply desira- 
ble, not necessary, when they are contrasted with the 
courses which the student is obliged to take to attain his 
degree. Only four students attended although it was 
offered for the next twelve years to all students of the Law 
School. In 1887 it was dropped from the course. Changes 
were made in the time of holding the moot courts ; they 
had previously been held directly after the lectures, but 
were now held upon special evenings which were assigned 
to them, and from this time they held a more important 
place in the life of .the Law School. The Department was 
still without a law library, but the use of the library of 
the Law Association was secured to the students by their 
making an annual payment of three dollars, so that this 
great need was partially and temporarily filled. The public 
appreciation of all this effort toward a higher plane was 
shown by the fact that the attendance immediately in- 
creased greatly, the year 1874-5 showing a registration of 
fifty-eight, while that of 1875-6 gave a total of ninety-two. 
Graduates of the Department were admitted to prac- 
tice in the Courts of Common Pleas and Orphans' Court 
of Philadelphia in accordance with the following rule 
adopted in June 1875 : "Any citizen of the United States 
of full age, who shall have been graduated Bachelor of 
Laws by the University of Pennsylvania, after the course 
study required in the University, may be admitted to 
practice as an Attorney of this Court if he shall have com- 
plied with the rule now in force as to the preliminary 
examination, and been registered for one year in the Pro- 
thonotary's office as a student of law in said University 
by the Dean of the Law Faculty thereof." This rule at 
that time aroused a feeling that too many privileges were 
conferred on the Law Department. This feeling was not 
unnatural in those who feared that a mere perfunctory 
attendance upon the courses given was all that would be 
required of the students. It remained for the Law School 
to place itself far above any such suspicion ; an accom- 



"r 




CHAMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
IN "CONGRESS HALI."— Used as a lecture room. 








OI^D DISTRICT COURT ROOM IN "CONGRESS 
HAI<L, " — Occupied as a lecture room. 





OLD CRIMINAL COURT ROOM IN "NEW COURT 
HOUSE"— Occupied by the " Biddle Law Library." 



VIEW OF QUARTERS FROM " INDEPENDENCE 
SQUARE." 




*C3<i^S/ ^ 



..•rf'vf.'"*'^'l»lfc^E^'$ ' i*^^" ~"' 




NEW COURT HOUSE"— In which the Biddle Law Library 

and administrative offices of the Law School were 

located 1895-1900. 




MOOT COURT ROOM" IN "NEW COURT HOUSE' 



SOME VIEWS OF QUARTERS IN "CONGRESS HALL" AND "NEW COURT 

HOUSE " — 1895-1900. 



History of the Department of Law. 229 

plishment which it has taken years to completely per- 
form, but which it may now claim to have absolutely ful- 
filled. No man can graduate at the Law School to-day 
who has not had a thorough, exhaustive and searching 
examination each year into his proficiency in any course 
w^hich he has studied, and he is expected and required 
to obtain a knowledge of the law, such as was rarely to 
be secured in any law school a few years ago. 

In 1875, it was provided that every candidate for a 
degree should prepare a thesis on some legal topic, and 
should pass an examination at the end of the session on 
the subjects studied during that session. The latter regu- 
lation ran as follows : " He shall have passed an exami- 
nation at the end of each session upon the subjects of 
study during that session. The examination shall be con- 
ducted by the Faculty, either orally or in writing, as they 
may determine, in the presence of such of the members 
of the committee on the said Law Department belong- 
ing to this board as may choose to attend, and the mem- 
bers of the board of examiners appointed by the courts of 
Philadelphia may be present at the examination if they 
desire to do so." 

The '* Sharswood Prize " of fifty dollars for the best 
essay written by a member of the graduating class ih 
each year was established in 1875 by an Alumnus of the 
Law Department. It has been found an incentive to good 
work, even after 1894, when the essay ceased to be re- 
quired as a prerequisite for a degree. The first of these 
prizes was awarded in 1876 to D wight M. Lowrey, Esq., a 
graduate of that year, for his essay upon Contingent 
Estates. In 1878, a prize of fifty dollars was established by 
the Faculty to be given to the student who passes the best 
written examination with all the professors. The prize is 
now given in each of the three classes. They are known 
as the Faculty Prizes and are awarded annually. The 
Meredith Prize of twenty-five dollars for the second best 
graduating essay was established in 1879, and it also is 



230 History of the Department of Law. 

awarded annually to a member of the graduating class, 
whenever two essays of sufficient merit are presented. In 
1888, the Sharswood Prize was increased to seventy-five 
dollars, and the Meredith Prize to fifty dollars. 

The classes steadily increased in numbers and the Law 
School in prosperity under its five well qualified pro- 
fessors. The next change in the Faculty took place in 
1884 ; Professor Morris presenting his resignation after 
having successfully conducted the course in practice and 
pleading at law and in equity for twenty-two years. He 
was succeeded by George Tucker Bispham, Esq., whose 
work on the Principles of Equity has an international 
reputation, and who is to-day the senior member of the 
faculty. 

In 1883 a post-graduate course in law was estab- 
lished, its aim being " to broaden and deepen the foun- 
dations of legal education." The catalogues announce 
that the method adopted was " a comparison of the sys- 
tems of law which obtain in different countries." The 
course covered two years ; one year devoted to the study 
of the Roman Law and the principles which have grown 
out of it ; the second to the study of the Common Law. 
Graduates of any Law School of recognized standing and 
members of the Bar were eligible as students. The tui- 
tion fee was twenty-five dollars. The graduates received 
the degree of Master of Laws and a thesis was required 
during the second year. This course was continued 
until the fall of 1897. 

In 187 1 Miss Carrie S. Burnham, now Mrs. Carrie B. 
Kilgore, then regularly registered as a student in a law 
office, applied for admission to the Department. Her 
application was, however, laid upon the table by the 
Board. In i88i a second application was more success- 
ful, and in 1883 Mrs. Kilgore was graduated. She is, 
therefore, the first woman graduate of the Law Depart- 
ment. Between 1883 and 1895 no woman was matricu- 



History of the Department of Law. 231 

lated. Since the last date, however, several women have 
been in attendance on the lectures, and three graduated. 

The Law Clubs have for many years held an important 
position in the Department. Through these clubs the 
moot court work is done, and nearly all the men in the 
school find it to their advantage to join some one of the 
organizations. The first club to be organized was the 
Sharswood Club, which was named for the reorganizer 
of the Law School and first Dean, Hon. George Shars- 
wood. The Hare Club was organized in 1890, and was 
named for the Hon. J. L Clark Hare, also eminent for his 
services to the Law School. Both clubs have maintained 
a. continuous and prosperous existence and many men of 
prominence at the bar and on the bench have been 
counted among their members. 

The Miller Club was organized in 189 1, In 1893 
this club established a " dispensary." Persons too poor 
to retain counsel in the ordinary manner were given ad- 
vice, and after consideration by a council the case, if 
meritorious, was taken into court. This club is still strong 
and active and has a large membership. 

The Kent Club was organized in 1896. It soon had a 
strong membership, and grew rapidly, and now, although 
still a young club, is in a very flourishing condition. 

The Gibson Chapter of the Greek Letter Fraternity, 
Phi Delta Phi, organized in 1897, was the last club to be 
organized before the department moved to its present 
building.* 

The first officer of the Law School to die while 
still in ofifice was Edward Coppee Mitchell, Dean of the 



* All of the clubs have separate rooms in the Building of the 
Law Department. The Wilson, McKean and Marshall Clubs have all 
been organized since the removal to the new building; the Marshall Club 
having a membership exclusively composed of the women law students. 
The policy of the Department is to aid and encourage these clubs in 
their work. Each professor sits as Judge for each club at least once 
each year ; thus from November to March each evening one or more 
moot courts are in session. 



232 History of the Department of Law. 

Department from 1872 until 1887. He had overtaxed his 
strength in his earnest efforts to perform all his duties 
and increase the success of the school whose welfare he 
had always at heart. He was succeeded in his office of 
Dean by Professor George Tucker Bispham, while the 
chair of Real Estate and Conveyancing was filled by C. 
Stuart Patterson, Esq. 

The year of 1887 marked another advance in the 
history of the School. The number of professorships, 
which had for a long time remained stationary, was 
increased by adding a Professorship of Pleading and 
Evidence at Law, and Criminal Law. This chair was 
filled by the election of A. Sydney Biddle, Esq. The 
change was but the herald of those to come. In 1888, 
Professor Bispham resigned as Dean, and November 6, 
1888, Professor C. Stuart Patterson succeeded him in that 
office. In December of the same year, Judge Hare, whose 
judicial duties were onerous, resigned as Professor of the 
Institutes, and the title of the chair, a survival of the early 
days of Wilson and the first Professor Hare, was never 
revived. Professor Hare was made Emeritus Professor 
of Constitutional Law. His well-known treatise upon that 
subject and his work upon the Law of Contracts are 
enduring memorials of the labor and learning which he 
bestowed upon the courses which he conducted. Samuel 
S. Hollingsworth, Esq., was elected Professor of the Law 
of Contracts and Corporations, and Pleading at Law. A 
Professorship of Criminal Law was also established at this 
time and George S. Graham, Esq., at that time District 
Attorney of Philadelphia, was elected to the position. 

In 1887 the feeling that the Law School should be 
near the courts and law offices dominated the policy of 
the administration, and the School returned to the city 
where it was accommodated in the Girard Building, one 
of the recently built office buildings at the corner of Broad 
and Chestnut streets. The sixth floor of this building 
was secured for the use of the Department, and here was 




BIUDLE LAW LIBRARY— (STACK ROOM. 



History of the Department of Law. 233 

also installed the recently founded Law Library of the De- 
partment. This Library was founded in 1886 by the fam- 
ily of George Biddle as a memorial to that distinguished 
lawyer. The gift consisted of over five thousand vol- 
umes, including nearly every regular American and 
English report, the books being purchased by the donors 
from the estate of Benjamin H. Brewster, formerly Attor- 
ney General of the United States. Mr. Effingham B. 
Morris also deposited with the School 965 volumes be- 
queathed by the late Professor Morris to the School, sub- 
ject to the life interest of Mr. Morris. Mr. S. Stanger 
Iszard was elected Librarian. 

In the fall of 1888 the course of instruction was in- 
creased from two to three years. This increase of the 
term of instruction was a necessity if the School was to 
stand among the great Law Schools of the country ; two 
years having been found by experience to be too short a 
time to properly prepare students for the legal profession. 

When Mr. C. Stuart Patterson succeeded to the office 
of Dean, the staff was increased by the new system of 
electing the member of the graduating class who at- 
tained the highest grade in the examinations to be a 
Fellow of the Department, and the control of the financial 
affairs of the School was placed in the hands of the ex- 
ecutive body of the University. At this time also the 
custom of granting degrees cum honore, to such students 
as should pass their examinations with distinction was 
instituted. The P. Pemberton Morris Prize was estab- 
lished. This is awarded annually for the best examination 
in Evidence, Pleading and Practice at Law and Equity. 
Increased attendance rewarded all these changes toward 
a more perfect fulfillment of the ideal which the trustees 
had set before them. 

In June, 1890, it was determined to thereafter elect 
from among the members of the graduating class, a stu- 
dent to fill the position of Fellow in the Faculty, the Fel- 
lowship to last for a term of three years. A number of 



234 History of the Department of Law. 

the present members of the Faculty, as will be seen pres- 
ently, before they became instructors or lecturers, held 
Fellowships. Those not otherwise mentioned who have 
held Fellowships, are Mr. Charles Henry Burr, Jr., 1893- 
1896 ; William Nelson Lofiin West, 1895-1898 ; Joseph 
Gilfillan, 1896-1899; Arthur Dickson, 1897-1899; Arthur 
Edward Weil, 1899-1900; Thomas R. White, 1899-1900. 

April 8, 1 89 1, the Department lost, through the death 
of A. Sydney Biddle, one of the most earnest and devoted 
of the men who formed its Faculty, and in June, 1894, a 
further loss fell upon it through the death of Samuel S. 
Hollingsworth who had been a favorite professor and an 
earnest worker. The family of Mr. Biddle, soon after his 
death, donated a fund of twenty thousand dollars to the 
Law Department for the purpose of founding a chair 
whose occupant should be known as the A. Sydney Biddle 
Professor of Law. This valuable and enduring memorial 
forms a most fit monument to a life devoted to the law. 
The name of the George Biddle Memorial Library was, 
at the same time, changed to the " George and A. Sydney 
Biddle Memorial Library." 

The increase in the length of the course and later in 
the number of students necessitated an increase in the 
number of professors. In 1890 Hon. George M. Dallas, 
Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals, was appointed 
Professor of the Law of Torts and of Evidence. In 1893, 
Mr, George Wharton Pepper, who had been a Fellow 
since his graduation from the Law School, was appointed 
A. Sydney Biddle Professor of Law. In 1894, Mr. George 
Stuart Patterson, and Mr. Charles C Townsend, who had 
been appointed Fellows, in 1891, were elected to pro- 
fessorships. Later in the same year Mr. Hampton L. 
Carson was elected Professor of Law, the teaching force 
thus being increased to nine active professors and three 
Fellows. 

In 1894 Mr. C. Stuart Patterson presented his resig- 
nation as Dean, to take eflect at the end of the season of 



History of the Department of Law. 235 

1894-95. During his incumbency as noticed there was a 
marked increase in the numbers matriculating in the Law 
School. The total number for the year that Mr. Patter- 
son became Dean was 149 ; the year of his resignation the 
total registration had increased to 228. The position was 
not at once filled, and in the interregnum Mr. George S. 
Patterson, son of the former Dean, was designated Acting 
Dean of the Department. 

The number of students in the Department had now 
grown to be so large that they could no longer be com- 
fortably accommodated in the rather narrow quarters occu- 
pied by the Department and in the spring of 1895 that 
portion of the buildings in Independence Square, recently 
vacated by the local courts, were, by the courtesy of the 
city, secured as a temporary home until the Law School 
could find means to provide a permanent dwelling place. 
The large upper room in the building 115 South Sixth 
Street, formerly used as the Criminal Court, was dedicated 
to the uses of the library. Bookshelves were placed about 
the walls, a couple of alcoves formed, and great oak tables 
set about the central space. Here for the next five years 
the scene was to be a busy one, although as yet the 
library was not the great workshop it was destined later 
to become. A number of smaller rooms on the ground 
floor were set apart as class rooms and club rooms. The 
executive offices were at first on the ground floor. Later 
they were removed to the smaller rooms off the library. 
Lecture rooms were at first provided in the small build- 
ings connecting Congress Hall with Independence Hall, 
but as the restoration of Independence Hall was then going 
on, these small buildings were marked for destruction, and 
in the fall of 1897 all the lecture rooms were removed to 
Congress Hall. The large lecture room on the first floor 
was the room once used as the meeting place of the first 
House of Representatives of the United States. It was 
the scene of the inauguration of President Washington, 
in 1793, and also that of the elder Adams, in 1797, and 



236 History of the Department of Law. 

of Jefferson as Vice-President. The room on the second 
floor, used as a lecture room for the Third Year Class, for- 
merly formed the anteroom of the Senate Chamber occu- 
pied by the first Congress. It afterward was used by 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The members of 
the classes of 1897 and 1898, the only two classes whose 
entire period of legal study was passed in these interest- 
ing surroundings, felt themselves fortunate in their mental 
atmosphere, though deprived of the physical comforts 
and conveniences which were to be so amply provided 
for the classes who were to come after them. These 
quarters for a time served fairly well the needs of the 
Department, although inconvenient, much separated and 
not well adapted to a use for which they had not origi- 
nally been intended. 

Mr. William Draper Lewis was elected Professor of 
Law and Dean of the Department of Law in August, 
1896. He is the first person holding the office to give 
his time exclusively to the work of the Law School. The 
next three years showed many changes. The require- 
ments for admission to the Department were raised, 
although the standard of education before required of an 
applicant was equal to that required in most law schools, 
and higher than that required by many. All applicants 
are required to show that their previous training has 
been such as to admit them to the college department. 
This change caused at first a decrease in the registration ; 
or, more accurately, prevented the normal increase which 
would have taken place ; the registration for two years 
remaining nearly stationary. By the third year, however, 
this was overcome. The increase in the fitness of the 
candidates for the work of the school was most marked 
and gratifying. 

Students were also required to attend at least eighty 
per centum of the lectures in each year. The number of lec- 
ture hours given to the students was more than doubled, 
and the number of subjects increased ; those in the Third 



History of the Department of Law. 237 

Year gradually being made elective, so that a much wider 
range of instruction was offered to the student, than had 
formerly been the case. For some time the students had 
found it necessary to supplement the teaching in class by 
" quizzes" given by persons not connected with the Law 
School, thus entailing considerable additional expense 
upon the student. In 1896 a system of quizzes, con- 
ducted by the teaching force of the Law School, was 
established. This quizzing is continued at the present 
time, though necessarily modified as a result of the 
change in the methods of instruction in class. This 
change will be spoken of later. 

The American Law Register, established in 1852, after 
many years of editorship by men prominent in the litera- 
ture of the law and at the bar, during the eighties lost 
much in circulation and influence. In the latter part of 
1891 it was bought by a syndicate composed of members 
of the Philadelphia Bar and by the new owners placed in 
charge of Mr. George Wharton Pepper and Mr. William 
Draper Lewis. Mr. Pepper and Mr. Lewis continued in 
sole charge until January, 1894, when Mr. Wm. S. Ellis 
was associated with them. During 1896-7 the real edi- 
tors were a committee of students of the Law School. On 
January i, 1897, the Register was adopted by the Fac- 
ulty as the official publication of the Law School, and is 
now conducted by a student Editorial Board, acting under 
the general supervision of the Faculty. 

Since its foundation the library had grown by a 
natural accretion of continuations of sets already begun 
and occasional gifts or purchases. The library, in 1896, 
contained 10,276 volumes. In this year steps were taken 
to place it upon a plane with the law libraries of the lead- 
ing universities of the country. In the three and one-half 
years immediately preceding the opening of the new 
building the library increased to twenty-two thousand 
volumes. By purchase were added complete sets of Colo- 
nial reports, Scotch and Canadian reports, the Hawaiian 



238 History of the Department of Law. 

reports, Australian reports many sets of periodicals, both 
English and American, treaties to the number of about 
three thousand. Treasury decisions, Patent reports, Bar 
Associations reports, ordinances, digests and statutes, and 
a collection of Roman and Civil Law. It now shows a 
well rounded development on every side. It is a com- 
plete library for the undergraduate, and it is hoped that 
it will soon become a complete library for the graduate 
student. Since its foundation the fund set apart for its 
support has varied as the receipts from the school have 
grown or decreased. It may be stated, however, that a 
sum of at least $2,000 annually for the first ten years, when 
all the expenses of the library were taken from the fund, 
was spent upon the purchase of books. Since 1896 the 
entire twelve per cent, has been devoted to the purchase 
of books. This has amounted to between five and six 
thousand dollars annually, for the years between 1896 and 
1899, and is now increased, through the growth of the 
School, to $6,000. To these annual sums should be added 
an additional $6,000 spent in 1896-7, when the imme- 
diate necessities of the library were very great. Thus 
the aggregate sum spent may be stated as approximately 
$50,000, though owing to the steady increase in the value 
of the books already purchased it would now require a 
much greater sum to duplicate the purchases made. As 
a result therefore of the wise provision relating to setting 
aside a considerable portion of the receipts of the School, 
this library, founded by the private benevolence of a 
single family, has been so largely increased that it has 
become one of the great Law Libraries of the country. 

In 1896, Mr. Edmund Jones was made hbrarian. He 
resigned in 1897, and the writer of this sketch became 
librarian. 

In 1897, Mrs. Arthur Biddle, widow of the third son 
of Mr. George W. Biddle, presented the library of her 
deceased husband to be added to the former gift of the 
Biddle familv, and as a memorial of Mr. Arthur Biddle. 




"^ rw?"' 






Q 






' : 'W ~'^0^^ V 



\ \ 



'■% -'¥' \ ^^\, 



WHARTON HALL— A Class Room. 




'■T 




A VIEW OF THE STAIR CASE. 





PRICE HALL— General A.ssembly Room and Debating Hall. 



,sTt"Di:XT^ CUAVER^ATION ROOM. 





A CORNER OF THE MAIN HALLWAY. 



THE MOOT COURT ROOM. 



SOME INTERIOR VIEWS OF THE NEW BUILDING. 



History of the Department of Law. 239 

This library numbered nearly four thousand volumes. In 
recognition of the fact that the library had now become 
a memorial of all the sons of Mr. Biddle, the name, 
shortly before the removal of the library to the new build- 
ing, was changed by the Trustees, with the approval of 
the family, to " The Biddle Law Library." 

In 1898, Professor James Parsons resigned. He had 
on September 10 of that year been connected with the 
Law School as Professor of Commercial Law, Contracts 
and Decedent's Estates for twenty-four years. During 
his last years in the School he had confined his teaching to 
the course on Partnership, His treatise on the Law of 
Partnership, now translated into Latin, and one of the 
few American law books used by continental scholars, 
was written for and used in connection with his course on 
that subject. Soon after his resignation as professor he 
was made Emeritus Professor of Law, in recognition of 
his extensive learning in both the Common and the 
Roman Law, and of his long service to the University.* 
Professor Graham was absent on leave in 1898, and he 
never resumed his work in the Law Department. In 
October of this year Reynolds Driver Brown, Esq., and 
John W. Patton, Esq., were elected professors. Professor 
Patton agreed to devote all his time to the Law School. 
Professor Brown took most of the work in property ; Pro- 
fessor Patton the new courses in Pennsylvania Practice. 
Mr. William E. Mikell was also elected instructor. On 
June 4, 1898, Professor C. Stuart Patterson presented his 
resignation, which was received by the Faculty with reso- 
lutions of regret. 

Professor Charles Cooper Townsend, who had so 
acceptably filled the chair of Property since 1894, resigned 
and ceased to teach in December. His resignation did 
not take effect until June 18, 1899. The student body 



* Professor Parsons' death occurred on March 23, 1900, one 
month after the removal of the Department to the new building. 



240 History of the Department of Law. 

testified to their appreciation of his work in the School 
by presenting him with a silver loving cup. 

Mr. Townsend did not lecture after Christmas, 1898. 
Mr. John A. McCarthy, a graduate of the Class of 1892, 
was elected lecturer, and acceptably conducted part of 
Mr. Townsend's courses for the remainder of the year and 
during the next scholastic year. 

In the summer of 1899, Hon. John B. McPherson, 
U. S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsyl- 
vania was elected Professor of Law, being assigned the 
course on Insurance. 

Mr. William H. Carson, who had been appointed 
lecturer on Carriers in 1898, died in August, 1899. Mr. 
Carson was Assistant District Attorney of Camden, N. J., 
at the time of his death, and though still a young man, 
had shown an earnestness and devotion to his chosen 
career which had already brought him merited success. 

Mr. Francis H. Bohlen was appointed lecturer on 
Negligence in 1898, and in 1899 Mr. Roy Wilson White, 
who was then a Fellow, was requested to take up the 
subject of Civil Law, with the intention that he should 
devote himself to the preparation of courses upon that 
subject and upon Roman Law. For the purpose of fully 
preparing himself for his work, Mr. White was sent 
abroad in 1899, and studied for some months in the 
University of Paris, returning to take up his work just 
before the removal to the new building.* 

The overcrowding and inconvenience of the tempo- 
rary quarters on Independence Square was felt, not alone 
in the library, but throughout the Department, and in the 
winter of 1897 the announcement was made that after 
June, 1898, the Department would be located in West 
Philadelphia " the trustees having resolved to erect suita- 
ble buildings on the grounds of the University or lands 

*The hopes and intentions of the Department were frustrated by 
the death of Mr. White, May ig, 1900, before he had entered upon the 
duties of his lectureship. 



History of the Department of Law. 241 

adjacent thereto." The latter alternative was decided 
upon ; land at the corner of Thirty-fourth and Chestnut 
streets, a few hundred feet from the campus of the Univer- 
sity, was purchased and plans were drawn ; the building, 
however, was not destined to be so quickly completed 
and until February 22, 1900, the buildings on Independ- 
ence Square continued to shelter the Department. 

February 21, 1900, the new building of the Law 
Department was ready for occupancy and on that date 
and the two succeeding days elaborate ceremonies signal- 
i2ed the opening of the building. 

This formal history would perhaps be incomplete if 
some account was not given of the changes which have 
taken place in the subjects taught, and in the objects and 
methods of instruction. The lectures outlined and in 
part given by the first Professors Wilson and Hare, were 
intended to give to the law student that which would fit 
him to act as a legislator and political leader in the then 
new country. In the outlines, therefore, especially of 
Judge Wilson's lectures, we find the greatest stress laid 
upon Constitutional and International Law. Private Law 
is treated, but minute and technical instruction is not at- 
tempted. There is a general comparison of the systems 
of the English and Roman Law, probably with a view of 
legislative reform, rather than of application to the affairs 
of clients. The difference between the outline prepared 
by Hare and that prepared by Wilson, shows a drift 
away from Public Law and towards Private Law. In the 
latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nine- 
teenth century, the law, that is the Private Law, was 
bound up very largely in the systems of Pleading and 
Conveyancing. These the student acquired in the 
lawyer's office under the eye of his preceptor, and though 
we cannot but believe that lectures along the lines of 
Blackstone's Commentaries would have had a better 
chance of success than those attempted, in justice to 
Wilson and Hare it must be remembered, that the pri- 



242 History of the Department of Law. 

mary need of law students at the time was probably 
instruction in Public Law and general questions of Juris- 
prudence rather than any special training for their work 
as lawyers. 

Between the time of Hare and that of Sharswood 
there was evidently a considerable development in the 
attitude of the law student towards the scope of the 
instruction desired. From the first Judge Sharswood and 
his two fellow Professors were expected to give informa- 
tion on those subjects which the students would have to 
deal with as practicing lawyers. The students, all of 
whom were in lawyers' offices, were expected to obtain 
in these offices a knowledge of the technicalities of prac- 
tice, but it had become recognized that they did not obtain 
from their preceptors systematic information on the law, 
and this systematic information the school was brought 
into existence to give. There were, during Judge Shars- 
wood's time, no entrance examinations and no examina- 
tions in course. The Law School was not a school in the 
modern sense, but a place where legal information was 
imparted and explanation of the more difficult parts of 
the law given. The real work of the student was still 
in the office. Those yet living, who attended Judge 
Sharswood's lectures, bear enthusiastic testimony to the 
way in which he accomplished the task he set himself to 
do. His discussions of the law were clear and luminous, 
and if his lectures left anything obscure, there was the 
quiz or discussion to clear up the obscurity. 

After Judge Sharswood's resignation, the school fell 
off in numbers because no one could quite fill his place 
as a fountain of legal information. With the election of 
E.Coppee Mitchell as Dean the school may be said to have 
entered on a new phase of its existence. In the twenty- 
five years which had passed since Judge Sharswood first 
began to lecture, there seems to have been a still further 
development in the ideas of the members of the bar and 
the students of law in regard to the things which they 



History of the Department of Law. 243 

expected the Law School to do. Dean Mitchell and the 
practically new Faculty which he had about him, recog- 
nized that the school must now be more than a place 
where information on the law could be obtained ; that 
hereafter it must train the student for the work of the 
legal profession. While practice was still left to the 
office, the student was expected himself to work in con- 
nection with the lectures, and at the end of each course 
he was regularly examined on the subject taught. The 
school became the place to train the students for the 
local bar ; and it is no depreciation of others to say that 
to Dean Mitchell, more than to any other person, is due 
the success which attended, during his administration, the 
efforts of the Faculty. 

The moment the point of view of the Faculty towards 
their own work became the point of view of the trainer 
rather than the lecturer, it was necessarily only a question 
of time when the didactic lecture as an efficient means 
towards this end was to be called in question. The lec- 
ture method of instruction is the only method possible 
where the duty of the teacher ends when he has imparted 
information ; but where the primary object is, not only to 
see that the student obtains information, but to train the 
student so that he may apply his knowledge, then the 
didactic lecture, while a possible means of accomplishing 
this result, is one which the majority of modern teachers 
of law, as well as of other branches of knowledge, believe 
they have found to be radically defective. The first per- 
son connected with the Law School to discard the lecture 
system of instruction was Mr. A. Sydney Biddle. His 
method, which he used in the subject of Torts, was to 
direct the students to the principal cases dealing with the 
legal question which he desired to discuss in class. The 
class hour was then devoted to a discussion between the 
Professor and students of the principles involved in the 
cases, with which all, at the time of the hour, were familiar. 
Unfortunately Mr. Biddle's death prevented him from 



History of the Department of Law. 245 

1890 with about eighteen hours of instruction per week; 
while at the time of entering the new building there were 
seventeen professors and instructors offering fifty-two 
hours of instruction per week ; thirty-eight hours being 
required for a degree. 

From the necessity of tr?;""[ng the student as well 
as of informing him on the law, came ultimately another 
change, which has only taken place in the last few years, 
but is perhaps destined to do more than any single thing 
to revolutionize the school. As long as all that was 
required of a professor was general information on legal 
subjects, any able and well-informed lawyer who was fond 
of the work could give satisfaction. But the moment 
training by the teacher, as well as information, became 
necessary, that moment the law professor must not 
only know the law, but be an experienced teacher. To 
become an efficient teacher is in itself a distinct art which 
requires, not only natural aptitude, but thought and 
work. The busy lawyer cannot, except in rare instances, 
give the time necessary to solve teaching problems. The 
successful modern teacher of law, therefore, is in the great 
majority of cases either a man who is devoting practically 
his entire time to the work of teaching, or one who, having 
done this during his younger days, has acquired a train 
ing as a teacher which he preserves, though his whole 
time may not be given to the work of the law school. 
Again the tendency towards specialization of courses 
leads the profession as well as the students of the school 
to demand minute and exact information on the subject 
taught. Unless he is confined to one subject, a man in 
active practice cannot master and keep abreast with the 
law which he is expected to teach in a way which is satis- 
factory to the modern law student. From both of these 
considerations it results that, where a teacher is asked to 
teach more than one subject, he must be asked to devote 
practically his entire time to the work of the school. 
These facts were recognized by the Trustees of the Uni- 



246 History of the Department of Law. 

versity in the year 1895, and they at once began to build 
up a teaching force which should contain a nucleus 
of men who had no other interests but the work of the 
Department. At the time of entering the new building, 
the Department contained four teachers who were devot- 
ing their whole time to the University. While it is un- 
likely, and from the writer's point of view, undesirable that 
the school will ever contain a Faculty none of the mem- 
bers of which are in active practice, the proportion of men 
who devote their whole time to the work of the Depart- 
ment will in the immediate future tend to increase. Out, 
therefore, of this change in the attitude of the Faculty 
towards their own work, from that of persons giving 
information to that of persons training their scholars, 
has come, in the last twenty- five years, objective changes 
which have completely revolutionized the entire De- 
partment. 

During the last decade a great change has taken 
place in the geographical distribution of the student 
body. In 1890, not nine per cent, of the graduates of 
the school expected to practice outside of Philadelphia. 
In 1900, at the opening of the new building, nearly fifty 
per cent, of the students of the school came from a dis- 
tance, all parts of the United States being represented. 
The school, from being a local school, has become a 
national one. The change forced the Faculty to recog- 
nize the fact that their duty towards the student did not 
end when a class hour was over. As students who came 
from a distance could not be expected to enter local 
offices, it became necessary that the University provide a 
place of study, as well as a place of instruction, for the 
student body. The new building, the opening of which 
is recounted in this volume, is the result. But the duty 
of a University towards a student coming from a distance 
does not end even with providing him with instruction 
and a place to study. It should provide him for the time 
being with a home. For this reason it became necessary 



History of the Department of Law. 247 

that the Law Department's building should be near the 
other University buildings, where the student could be 
insensibly drawn into the life of the University and have 
healthy occupation for his hours of • leisure. 

Again, the student from a distance, being unable to 
secure in the local offices instruction in practice, turned 
to the school to train him in the practice as well as in the 
knowledge of law. Indeed, it may be here pointed out, 
that, even had there not been a large increase in students 
coming from a distance, the change in local conditions 
would have forced the University authorities, not only to 
provide a place of study for local students, but instruction 
in practice. In the old days, before the typewriter and 
the trained clerk, the student was useful to his preceptor, 
being after a short time able to assist him in writing his 
letters and drawing the more simple legal papers. These 
conditions in a large city such as Philadelphia, have been 
for the last twenty years practically the conditions of the 
past, rather than existing conditions. The law student 
therefore has become more or less of a nuisance in the 
lawyer's office, taking up space for which the lawyer has 
to pay at a much higher rate than his predecessor. As a 
consequence, many of the local students cannot gain 
access to a lawyer's office, and even where this is pos- 
sible, the hurry and routine of modern business in the 
large majority of cases prevents the lawyer from giving 
any attention to his pupils. The Faculty recognizing these 
conditions, since 1897 no student entering the school has 
been permitted to graduate unless he has taken and 
passed an examination in the practice of the jurisdiction 
in which he intends to locate. Special instruction is 
given in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Prac- 
tice, while the work of those intending to practice in 
other states is regularly supervised. 

Another change which has taken place in the teach- 
ing of the school in the last ten years, which is an out- 
growth of the wider geographical distribution of the 



248 History of the Department of Law. 

students, is the character of the emphasis which is placed 
in the instruction on the decisions of the State Courts of 
Pennsylvania. It was always recognized by the Faculty 
that the principles of the Common Law and the problems 
of the lawyer were essentially the same in all jurisdictions 
following the system of jurisprudence developed by the 
English speaking peoples, and therefore the student of 
law should by no means confine himself to the cases in 
any one jurisdiction. At the same time, where all the 
students expected to practice in a particular jurisdiction, 
it was but natural that the majority of cases to which the 
student was referred were cases decided by the courts of 
that jurisdiction. When, however, members of the stu- 
dent body expected to practice in all parts of the United 
States, the Faculty recognized the necessity of studying 
the fundamental questions of our law from material gath- 
ered from any court administering that law, without undue 
emphasis upon the decisions of any particular jurisdic- 
tion. Had the development ended there, there would un- 
questionably have been a distinct loss to those students, 
still forming the majority of the school, who expected to 
practice in the State of Pennsylvania. For while the Pri- 
vate Law is essentially the same in all parts of the United 
States except Louisiana, the courts of each state naturally 
rely very largely on their own decisions, as these decis- 
ions are more familiar to them. In conjunction, therefore, 
with the change necessary in the emphasis to be laid on 
Pennsylvania cases in the general and fundamental courses, 
it became necessary to add as elective courses in the third 
or graduating year, courses confined entirely to the statu- 
tory and other peculiarities of Pennsylvania Law. At the 
same time the professor in the more general courses is 
expected to direct a student to any peculiarities of the law 
of the state in which he expects to practice. 

It was said recently by a leading educator in speak- 
ing of the work done by a great University, that the 
highest praise which he could give was the fact that 



I 



'3f 



mmM^^' 



History of the Department of Law. 249 

though the University had existed for many years, and 
the educational needs of the country in that time had 
constantly changed, the University had been able on the 
whole to meet new conditions as they arose. This may 
also be said of the Law School of the University of Penn- 
sylvania. During the fifty years of its continuous exist- 
ence the character of its instruction, and the methods and 
ideals of the Faculty have, as we have seen, changed 
more than once. But at any one period, with possibly 
one or two exceptions, the School has tended to adapt 
its work to the needs of the great body of those who 
came to it for instruction. 



APR. 24 1902 



